


I'll Go With You

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Don't be afraid to comment!, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Innocent Papyrus, Other, Other tags to be added, Past self harm tw, Post-Pacifist Route, Profanity, Reader Insert, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader has depression, Reader has mild PTSD, References to Abuse, Sans has PTSD, Slow Burn, Spoilers, chapters are probably short, hey friend hey pal do you want to bmaybe clam down their pal buddy, i probably use way too many commas?????, like really slow burn, mental illness tw, mom's spaghetti, monster racism, monster specieism, not necessarily vital to the plot, past abuse tw, reader has set appearance, reader is adult, sans does a violence, sans has depression, sticks m legy out real far, suicidal thoughts tw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-07-20 01:20:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7385287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You've recently moved into a new town, and your only real family left is your cat. You're having a really bad night and have a chance encounter with a strange skeleton monster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Third Eye Blind

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Would That Make You Happy?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5053684) by [OnaDacora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnaDacora/pseuds/OnaDacora). 
  * Inspired by [Soul-Searcher](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6210733) by [RavenZaphara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenZaphara/pseuds/RavenZaphara). 
  * Inspired by [My Fault](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5743168) by [Keelynoelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keelynoelle/pseuds/Keelynoelle). 



> Hello! Thanks for giving this fic a chance! This is my very first fic ever. Like, ever ever. It may not be that great, so constructive criticism is welcome. Please feel free to leave comments, and I hope you enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> *****This fanfiction deals with suicidal thoughts and the like, so please keep that in mind.*****

You look in a mirror, and take a long, hard look at yourself. You're tired. You're so, so tired. You're on your third sleepless night. Not for any reason in particular, you've just always had trouble sleeping. 

Makeup from earlier today is smudged on your face. You tidy it up a bit and apply some new eyeliner. You never like leaving the house without makeup, even if it's for something like this.

You begin to write a note.

 

~*~

 

Sans suddenly sat up in bed, panting hard. This was the third nightmare this week alone. After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he flopped back down onto his bed to stare at his ceiling. 

He knew immediately that he would not be going back to sleep. With a sigh, he turned and looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was nearly 3 in the morning. On nights like these, the best thing for him would be a walk. It always helps calm his nerves, to look at the night sky and see the stars and remind himself that they're really on the surface still.

After checking on Papyrus to make sure he was still asleep, he shrugged on his blue jacket, pulled the hood over his head, and stepped out into the cool night air.

 

~*~

 

Checking over your note to make sure it's how you want it to look, you nod to yourself and put it in your wallet. You walk over to your cat who is snoozing away on her cat tower. Lucky. You give her a scratch under the chin and she purrs happily in response.

You give her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Bye-bye, kitten," you mutter to her. She opens her eyes to look at you and mews quietly in response before closing them again and going to sleep.

You grab your phone to check the time before shoving it into your pocket. It's late, but you don't really care at this point. You quickly tug on a comfortable pair of shoes and step outside. It's cold, especially in your tank top and shorts, but again, you don't care.

You slowly make your way through the little town you live in, making your way towards a park when you spot the bridge. It stretched across a large wash that was only full after a good rain or during the spring, when the snow begins to melt. You had only moved into town about a month or two ago, so you have yet to see it with water in it. Taking a deep breath, you make your way over to it.

 

~*~

 

Sans walked aimlessly, mostly paying attention to the sky above him and enjoying the stars. This time of night, it was mostly deserted outside. Since it had already been a couple of years since monsters came to the surface, most people were used to them by now. There was still unfortunately the occasional racist (speciest?) around, so most monsters don't go out too late at night. Even the more nocturnal monsters preferred to stay inside. Sans wasn't worried about that, though. He knew he could handle himself.

He found himself walking into a park. It was nice and calm here. He'll have to remember this place for his future walks. After a moment, he came up to a bridge. Though it was late, the almost-full moon made it easy to see. He noticed someone standing on the bridge and began to make his way over. Maybe they were like him and also had trouble sleeping?

They seemed to be muttering something to themselves, but Sans was still too far away to make out what they were saying. After a moment, they took what looked like a wallet out of their back pocket and set it on the railing of the bridge.

Then they started stepping up onto the railing.

 

~*~

 

"hey pal, what're you doing out so late?" The sudden deep voice behind you startled you and you quickly turned your head to see who it was.

You couldn't help but smirk to yourself at the sight before you. It was a hooded skeleton, his blue jacket almost looking black by the light of the moon. It reminded you of the Grim Reaper. It was slightly fitting, you thought.

"Sorry, but it's none of your business." you said back to him.

"yeah, you're probably right, but i can't sit by and watch someone about to jump and not do anything about it." he stated bluntly.

Your face scrunched up in mild annoyance. "What does it matter to you?" you retorted. "You don't even know me."

With a sigh, he said "sure, maybe i don't know you. but i know what it's like in your position, kiddo. i can tell you that what you're about to do is not the answer."

You looked down at his chest for a moment and then back up at his face.

"You too, huh?"

 

~*~

 

Sans twitched, glancing down at his chest for a split second, then back at you. It felt as if you had peered into his soul... But, no, that couldn't be what that was. He was the only person he knew with that type of power.

But... What you had said... Could you see that he had low HP? Sure, it may have risen a couple of points since coming to the surface, but 3 HP was still next to nothing.

He quickly mimicked your movement, glancing down at your chest, then back up to your face.

He... He had never seen a human with their HP so low. It was almost as bad as his and that was saying something. He couldn't help the pang of sympathy he felt.

 

~*~

 

You two held eye contact for a moment, saying nothing.

"besides," he started, chuckling nervously, "this isn't nearly high enough to do the job. all you'll do is hurt yourself pretty bad." He stuck his hand out to you and waited for you to take hold of it so that he could help you down. "why don't you come with me?"

You looked at the offered hand, slightly confused. You had heard that monsters were kind, but there were so few from where you had moved from that this was probably the longest conversation you had ever had with one. You couldn't help but be slightly suspicious, but... After what you had come here to do, it wouldn't matter if you went with him or not, even if he had ulterior motives.

You started to turn to accept his hand, when your foot got caught. You stumbled, trying to catch your balance. You could see the skeleton reach out to try to grab you. 

He missed. 

You started to fall.

You thought to yourself that this is fine, that this is what you had come here to do anyway. You shut your eyes, waiting for the impact. Maybe if you landed just right, they wouldn't be able to help you.

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

The impact never came. You wondered for a second if maybe you had hit and passed out, but then you realized that you were still awake. 

You opened your eyes. Everything had a blue tint to it. You were... Floating? Confused, you looked up from where you had fallen to see the skeleton you were just talking with staring at you with a look of intense concentration, hand sticking out towards you. His left eye was flickering blue, and he had beads of sweat on his forehead. 

How did skeletons sweat?

 

~*~

 

Sans heaved a sigh of relief. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to get to you in time, but he had just enough reach with his magic to catch you.

He slowly began to lift you back up again, chuckling slightly at your look of bewilderment. He set you carefully on the ground next to him.

You sat there quietly for a moment. Sans watched you carefully, making sure that you wouldn't run off or try to hurt yourself.

Quietly, but with a lot of feeling, you whispered, " _What the fuck._ "

Sans couldn't help the laughter that burst from him. After catching his breath, he sat down next to you.

"well, now that that's out of the way," he started, holding out his hand to you, "the name's sans. sans the skeleton. nice to meet you."

 

~*~

 

You took his hand. It was hard and smooth, but comfortingly warm. It made you feel at ease.

"I'm ____. Nice to meet you too, Sans."

You both sat there in silence for a moment, staring up at the stars. You began to cry silently to yourself. Sans doesn't hesitate to put his arm around your shoulder and pull you to him, gently rubbing your arm to comfort you. You began to shake as silent sobs wracked through you.

You're not sure how long you sat there, but you eventually began to calm down by taking deep breaths. Your bottom had begun to feel a bit numb from sitting on the cold concrete. 

Sans, seeing that you had calmed down, stood up and brushed his shorts off.

"do you have any family at home?" he asked.

"Nope, just me and my cat. What about you?"

"hey, we have a cat, too. it's just me and my brother. his name is papyrus, he's the best. i've got some close friends who are like family to me, too."

"Must be nice." you muttered.

He hummed to himself, deep in thought. He held out his hand yet again to help you up from the ground. You quickly took it, relishing in the warmth in his bones and he heaved you up. He didn't let go of your hand. You didn't complain.

"welp," he began, "i've probably gotta head home. pap's probably gonna be up soon and i don't want him wakin' up without me there."

You couldn't help but feel disappointed. But you knew this was going to happen. It's not like you two could sit there forever. He was just a kind passerby, and he had his own life to get back to. He probably was in the middle of something, and he didn't have time to sit around with some crazy girl.

Sans, noticing the look on your face, quickly grabbed your wallet off of the railing. He put it in his shorts pocket and began to tug you away.

"U-um..." you stuttered. "What exactly are you doing?"

"you're comin' with me. i wouldn't feel right leavin' you alone after all that. you can have my bed, and i'll take the couch."

You stared at him, slack-jawed. You couldn't believe it. You two had only just met, and yet he was treating you like a long time friend.

"B-but I'm just a stranger! What if I'm someone dangerous? What if I hurt you or your brother?"

 

~*~

 

Sans chuckled at the thought. He knew that in your state, even if you wanted to, you couldn't hurt him or his brother. He figured he would have a bit of fun with you first.

He stopped and turned to you with breakneck speed and put his face uncomfortably close to yours. His grin was tight, his eyes blank and hollow, devoid of the white pupils you had seen before. He spoke with a dark, rough intensity you hadn't heard from him before.

"If you try to hurt Papyrus, I can promise that **y o u ' r e g o n n a h a v e a _b a d t i m e._** "

You flinched backwards, eyes wide, your face a mixture of complete shock and a look that said 'was that a meme??' written on your face.

He laughed, and you scowled playfully at him. He shrugged off his jacket and put it on you.

"nah, kid, i'm just messin' with ya. i know you're a good person. i wouldn't've invited you if you weren't."

A person's soul is a reflection of their being and their emotions. He saw your soul earlier when he had checked your stats. Underneath the gray that clouded your soul, he could see it shining brightly. That's how he knew right away that he could trust you. 

 

~*~

 

You smiled slightly at his words and buried your face deeper into the fabric of the jacket. It smelled like tomatoes and... bones? 

"Okay." 

"I'll go with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you guys think? This was originally gonna stop at the big gap, but I decided no cliffhangers for now. Should I keep posting? Newer chapters might not be as long as this one, though. I'm not that great at writing. OTL
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! Thanks a skele-TON again for reading!
> 
> Edited some bits of the writing to make it flow a little bit better with the help of a friend.


	2. Mitchiri

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shamelessly googles skeleton puns*  
> ahhh man I can't help but feel this chapter isn't as good as my first, but I mostly just wanted to help the reader and sans become better friends. i must've re-written this chapter at least three times, I hope you guys like how it turned out!!!!
> 
> Edit: Forgot to link the layouts for the apartments, oops!

You and Sans made your way through the town while he told you jokes and silly puns to try to make you feel better. It was working. He had his head slightly tilted towards you to keep eye contact as you walked and talked, and he would occasionally glance down at your chest to check on your soul. 

He enjoyed seeing the gray cloud gradually lift from you as time went on. It didn’t go away completely of course, but it was definitely fading a bit.

You had realized that the entire time you two were walking that he hadn’t let go of your hand. You couldn’t help but blush a little bit at the thought.

After a pleasantly short walk, he led you into an apartment complex. He made his way over to a flight of stairs and led you up to the second floor.

As soon as you made your way into the [apartment](http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com/image/146883111308), you glanced around. The apartment itself was nice, but your attention was on the small russet colored cat lying in the middle of the floor. They had a blue floral collar and was laying spread out, completely ignoring you.

You quickly made your way over to the cat and laid down next to them to begin petting them.

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle at how quickly you made yourself comfortable and joined you on the floor on the other side of the cat, scratching under their chin.

“this here is our canela. all she does is lay around. we were made for each other.”

“Oh, Canela, like the Spanish word for cinnamon?”

“no, like the font.”

You processed this for a second, before breaking out laughing. You quickly reminded yourself to keep quiet, though, and whispered: “What is it with skeletons and fonts?”

Sans just shrugged and winked at you.

"And here I thought you had named her something cute."

You both laid there on the floor, listening to Canela purr happily and talking about how much you both love cats.

After a moment, Sans seemed to remember something and dug around in his shorts pocket. He took out your wallet and handed it to you.

“so, uh, why did you leave your wallet on the railing?”

Crap. He sure does get right to the point, you thought. “Well, I, uh…” You weren’t quite sure how to answer. You looked down at Canela, somewhat ashamed of your actions now that you had started to get over the worse part of your depressive mood. 

With a deep breath, you figured you might as well tell him the truth. “I took everything out of my wallet at home and left only a note in it. It was just a brief note with my address saying that I had a cat at home that needed to be taken care of. It’s kind of selfish of me. But… I was worried that something like… I guess something like this happening. That I would be stopped. Or maybe change my mind. It’s why I didn’t take her to a shelter so that she would still be at home, waiting for me.”

Sans nodded slowly as you talked. “well it was smart of you to leave a note instead of just abandoning her.”

Sans got up and stretched. “i'm bone-tired. i'm gonna try to get some sleep. you should, too.”

“I have insomnia,” you replied. “Sleepless nights are the norm for me.”

Sans put his hand on his chin for a moment. He then made his way to the kitchen and you could hear dishes clattering together. After a couple of minutes, he made his way out with two steaming cups.

He reached one out to give to you. “this is golden flower tea. it always helps me sleep if you wanna try some.”

“Oh, t-thank you!” You stuttered out. You really weren’t used to this whole ‘nice’ thing. You quickly sat up and grabbed the cup from him, cradling it with both hands. He made his way back over to his spot on the floor and began to pet Canela again.

You took a quick sip. It was the perfect temperature and had the taste of honey and lemons. “This is delicious! Thank you so much.”

“no prob’. it’s a favorite of a friend of mine.”

You both sat there in companionable silence, listening to Canela purr away as you sipped at your tea. It warmed you up nicely from being outside so long. 

After a moment of thinking, you decided to speak up. You kept your eyes firmly on your now-empty cup.

“I… I just wanted to thank you again for helping me out earlier. You could’ve just kept walking and ignored me, but you didn’t. It… Helps to know that there’s someone who cares, even a little bit.” When you looked up finally to meet Sans’ eyes, you saw that he was looking at you with a sad smile.

“hey, like i said, kid. i get it. i really do. i’m glad to have been there to help you out.”

You mirrored his expression, both of you looking at each other with a slightly better understanding of each other. You put your attention back to Canela.

"hey, kid?" 

You hummed in response, not wanting to take your attention off of the cat, now rolling around and enjoying the affection. 

"it's going _tibia_ okay."

Your nose scrunched up in mock-disgust at the pun and when you looked up at him, he was finger-gunning at you. 

"Skeleton puns, huh? I guess I'll have to _bone up_ on my anatomy."

He beamed at your pun before getting up and taking your cup from you and made his way to the kitchen. On his way back out, he gestured for you to follow him and you quickly got up from the floor.

He led you into the hallway and all the way to the back where his room was. You stepped inside and began to take in your surroundings.

There was a treadmill in the middle of the room, though you didn’t exactly take Sans for the active type. There was also a pile of socks (ONLY socks??) in the corner and… Was that a tornado?

“s’cuse the mess. wasn’t exactly expecting company.”

You quickly shook your head. “Oh, no, please don’t worry! If anything, I’m sorry for intruding. Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep on the couch? I feel kind of bad taking your bed.”

“yeah, don’t sweat it, kid. the couch is pretty comfy.” Sans said with a shrug. “so, uh, do you have to wake up early tomorrow?”

“No, luckily I have tomorrow off.”

“cool, so do i. you wanna hang out or somethin’?”

You smiled sweetly at him. “I would love to.”

“cool. ‘night, then.”

“Goodnight, Sans.”

He left you alone in the room and made his way out to the couch to flop on. Canela made her way into the room with you and jumped up onto the bed, getting comfortable.

You continued to stand in the middle of the room, your mind whirling with all that had happened in the last hour or so. After a moment, you gave up on trying to collect your thoughts and made your way into the bed. 

You were still wearing Sans’ jacket from the walk back earlier, but you were still feeling a bit chilly and figured it wouldn’t hurt wearing it to bed. You tucked yourself under the covers, being careful not to disturb the already asleep Canela. You close your eyes, beginning to feel the effects of the golden flower tea. The lack of sleep was starting to take effect, too, you think.

You feel content and warm as you begin to drift off to sleep.

~~~

Sans woke up to two high-pitched shrieks coming from his bedroom. He leaped from the couch, teleporting to his bedroom door, eye flashing menacingly.

“SANS!!” Papyrus screamed, standing over you. “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? WHY DID YOU TURN INTO A HUMAN??”

You noticed Sans standing in the doorway. He was covering his mouth with his hand trying very hard not to laugh as he watched the scene play out. You silently begged for his help. He just stood there.

“MAYBE WE SHOULD GO SPEAK TO QUEEN TORIEL! SHE WOULD KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

In a flash, Papyrus made his way over to you and scooped you up princess style. You squeaked in surprise and Papyrus began to quickly make his way over to the door and nearly crashed into Sans.

Papyrus stood stock still, keeping you in his arms, utterly confused. He looked back and forth between the two of you, before shouting “NORMAL SANS! THERE YOU ARE! WHY IS THERE TWO OF YOU AND WHY IS ONE OF YOU A HUMAN?”

Sans couldn’t handle it. He began to laugh hysterically, bending over to put his hands on his knees. You and Papyrus stood there (not that you had much of a choice) and waited for him to calm down. When he finally did, he stood up straight and wiped at his tears of laughter.

“sorry to burst your bubble there, paps, but that’s a friend i made last night. we were just having a sleepover.”

Papyrus’ face lit up, eyes twinkling (literally...?), excited at the prospect of a new friend. “MY APOLOGIES, NEW HUMAN! I HOPE I DID NOT ALARM YOU!” He gingerly set you down. Only then did you notice just how tall he was. You and Sans only came up to his chest. He seemed to be wearing some type of armor and a cute scarf. Or was that a cape?

“LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He stuck his hand out. “IT IS WONDERFUL TO MEET YOU, NEW HUMAN FRIEND!”

You couldn’t help but smile at Papyrus’ energy, even so early in the morning. You shook his hand happily. “My name is ____. It’s nice to meet you, too, Papyrus! Your brother has told me all about you!”

Papyrus struck a pose. “OF COURSE YOU HAVE HEARD OF ME! I AM GREAT, YOU KNOW. ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW OF ME! NYEH-HEH-HEH!”

You laughed happily at the silly skeleton in front of you. “I agree!”

You excused yourself to the bathroom to look in the mirror. You grimaced. It was no wonder Papyrus mistook you for Sans. The makeup you had reapplied last night had smudged from your crying and from rubbing your eyes in your sleep. You had a dark ring of black around your eyes, mimicking Sans' eye sockets, and your light blue eyes were not unlike his white pupils. Plus you were still wearing his blue hoodie. You shrugged it off.

You took some toilet paper and quickly started to clean up the smudges as best as you could. After a couple of minutes of scrubbing, you couldn’t seem to get all of it off. With a resigned sigh, you made your way out into the living room.

“HUMAN!” Papyrus suddenly greeted you from the kitchen. You couldn’t help but jump in surprise. What was that smell? “I AM MAKING EVERYBODY PANCAKES! I DO HOPE YOU HAVE TIME TO STAY FOR BREAKFAST!”

You chuckled. “Sure, I would love to, Papyrus. I do have to run home really quick after breakfast to check on my cat, though.”

“mind if i join you?” Sans suddenly piped up from the dining table. “you did say we could hang out today.”

You shrugged and tossed his hoodie to him. “I don’t see why not. My apartment isn’t as nice as yours though.”

He caught it easily and quickly put it on, looking more comfortable while wearing it. “we can hang here if you want to. watch a movie or play some video games or somethin'.”

“That sounds perfect!” You smiled, actually looking forward to your day for once. It’ll be nice to spend it with someone who’s already proved themselves to be a good friend, despite only knowing you for less than a day.

The pancakes Papyrus made were delicious, despite the glitter he had put in them. You avoided the more experimental spaghetti pancakes as best as you could, but still took one just to make Papyrus happy.

You insisted on letting the brothers let you do the dishes, still feeling guilty for taking Sans’ bed and having breakfast at their house. They both assured you that it was no problem and that they were happy to have you over, but let you do them anyway to make you feel better.

Papyrus took off shortly after breakfast, saying something about training with his best friend. You and Sans left after he did and began to make the short walk to your apartment.

“so, uh, hey.” You looked at Sans as he began talking. “thanks for being so cool with pap. people can find his eagerness to be a bit overbearing sometimes. he only ever means well, though”

You couldn’t help but grin. Their brotherly love was becoming very apparent to you and it was adorable. “Hey, it’s no trouble for me. Papyrus is a big sweetheart. He reminds me of a big kid. A REALLY big kid.”

Sans chuckled. “yeah, it’s just like i told you, right? my little bro is the best.”

You knew he threw in the ‘little’ just to mess with you, based on the shit-eating grin he was throwing your way. You chose to ignore him.

You two eventually made your way to a rather shoddy looking apartment complex. You couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed by it. Of the family you had left, none of them really spoke to you, so they never had a reason to visit. You had only been living in this town for about two months or so and you didn’t really speak with any of your coworkers. You weren’t exactly prepared for visitors.

You led your way to the third floor and grabbed a key from under the welcome mat. In case someone found your note, you told Sans.

Once you started fiddling with the lock, (the damn thing always got stuck) you could hear eager meows from the other side of the door. As soon as you got the door open, your little orange tabby sped up to you and began happily weaving through your legs.

“wow,” Sans raised his... brow bones(?) at your affectionate kitten. “i've never seen a cat actually care about something. she must really like you.”

You giggled and picked her up and she immediately went limp over your shoulder. She was perfectly content with being carried like a sack of flour, happily getting tangled up in your long and dark wavy hair.

“This is Fiera. She’s always been a bit clingy, not that I’m complaining.” you explained. “Plus… For awhile now, she’s been the only one to be happy to see me. She’s my whole world.” 

You began to tear up. “I don’t know what comes over me sometimes,” you whispered. Sans put his hand on your arm in a comforting gesture and you turned to make eye contact. “One day I’ll be perfectly fine and the next it’ll feel like there’s no way out. I end up… In a situation similar to how you found me last night.” You trailed off, your eyes going to the floor.

“When I tried going to my family about it, they said something along the lines of me making it up,” Sans’ grip on your arm tightened a little bit. “Or that I was just feeling sad and being over-dramatic. My parents eventually got sick of my ‘moping around’ and made me get out.” You began to cry in earnest, and Sans slid his hand from your arm to your back to soothe you.

You took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down. You’d gotten poor Fiera wet with your crying, but she didn’t seem to notice. What she did notice was your small gasps as you cried, and turned to lick and bite your face in her strange way of comfort. It never failed to make you giggle and you snuggled her closer as she made you feel a bit better.

You sighed, feeling embarrassed for crying in front of Sans twice in less than 24 hours. You hate crying. It makes you feel… Weak. You needed to be strong. Not only for Fiera, but for your new friends as well.

You broke contact with Sans, still holding Fiera, and made your way to your kitchen. Your [apartment](http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com/post/146883810478/layout-for-readers-apartment-from-the-ill-go) was tiny, not even big enough for a bedroom, your bed being in the main living area next to your couch. Your kitchen was only separated from your living room by a bar meant for seating arrangements but you lacked the proper space to use it. Your parents refused to help you, saying that you needed to learn how to help yourself for once and this place was all you could afford with your meager savings.

Fiera was practically a ragdoll in your arms and it made it a little bit harder to fill up her food bowl, but if she wanted to be in contact with you, you weren’t going to deny her that. You shifted her so that she laid a bit like a scarf on your shoulders. You could hear Sans chuckling at your cat’s strange antics.

After giving her some food, water, and extra pets and kisses, you set her on her cat tower in the corner of the room and quickly changed clothes in your bathroom, feeling gross still wearing yesterday’s clothes.

“you ready to go?” Sans inquired. When you nodded, he reached out and grabbed your hand, and you looked at him in confusion. “hold on.”

That was your only warning.

You felt like you were falling in every direction, and started to feel a bit of vertigo come on. The feeling only lasted a couple of seconds and then you found yourself standing in the middle of Sans’ living room.

You looked around wildly, completely baffled. You turned to Sans, wide-eyed.

“Did you just fucking _teleport us?!_ ” you asked Sans, grabbing his shoulders and slightly shaking him.

“heh, i sure did.” he said, infuriatingly nonchalant. 

You both stood there for a second, doing and saying nothing. Sans was starting to get nervous under your intense stare before you started laughing.

“ _That was so fucking cool!!_ ”

Sans laughed with you. Most people were freaked out by his teleportation, understandably, but you seemed to take it in stride. He felt proud of the fact that it made your soul shine brightly in excitement.

“So, uh…” You suddenly went back to your shy demeanor, embarrassed by your sudden outburst. You plopped awkwardly onto the couch. Sans chuckled at the light blush on your face.

“What kinda games do you have?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact, reader's cat Fiera is basically just an insert of my cat... also named Fiera. same mannerisms and everything. she's great.  
> I also wrote this while listening to nothing but the mitchirineko march so sorry if there's too much cat stuff. i just. really like cats.
> 
> I'm also gonna try to keep a schedule of updating at least every other day, but I was too excited to get this one out and gauge the reaction to it to wait until tomorrow. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts, either on here or on the tumblr I made for this.  
> http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com/


	3. Drop Pop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was almost late, oops. Also a bit short, but I hope you enjoy it!

You and Sans ended up playing video games for most of the day. You two ended up bonding over video games, talking about which ones you liked best and whatnot. Sans didn’t know of many video games, but of the ones he did play, he turned out to be REALLY good at them. He beat you at almost every competitive game and carried you through every co-op. 

You loved having the chance to play again. You had sold some of your consoles to help pay for rent, but you kept your video games. You thought that maybe sometime you could bring over your collection and introduce Sans to some new titles. (Maybe then you could beat him.)

Around lunch time, Sans got a call. You didn’t have to guess who it was with the loud voice coming through the phone.

“BROTHER! I WAS JUST CURIOUS, IS OUR NEW HUMAN FRIEND STILL THERE? I WOULD LIKE TO BRING OUR TRAINING HOME SO THAT UNDYNE AND AMARI COULD MEET HER!”

“jeez, i dunno paps, your training can get kinda out of hand sometimes. i’d hate to have another _explosive_ situation like last time.”

“THAT WAS TERRIBLE. WE’RE ON OUR WAY!”

(click!)

Sans stared at his phone for a second before shrugging. Not a moment later, the front door was opened with such force that you were surprised that it didn’t fly off its hinges. 

Suddenly, there was a greenish-blue blur making it’s way over to you. You couldn’t help but flinch as there were suddenly yellow fangs in your face, and a single amber eye scrutinizing you.

“So THIS is the newest human, huh? She’s TINY!” the fangs bellowed. You were suddenly lifted from the couch with a grip on your arms, pinning them to your sides. “It’s decided, then! I’ll have to TRAIN YOU to make sure you bulk up! You need a code name. Just about everyone in the guard had a code name.”

She turned you this way and that, inspecting you, before her eye landed on your [leggings](http://931d59c3894c2d8e34ed-eb103888d739062e5214c7f10fa51e4c.r40.cf2.rackcdn.com/product-original-342944-119394-1467545545-88844f6bd65efa76327cd08a7a624fdb.jpg).

“Oh! That’s PERFECT! Panda it is, then! It suits you! We’ll start tomorrow!!”

She set you down and ran off to the kitchen with Papyrus and another human on her tail before you could process what just happened. 

Sans pushed himself off the couch with a grunt, motioning for you to follow him. “c’mon, panda.” he teased. “we leave them alone in there and we’re gonna have to find a new place to live.”

Papyrus and the others were too engrossed in what they were doing to notice you and Sans enter the room. Sans motioned to the blue fish woman, telling you that her name is Undyne and she was the former captain of the royal guard in the underground. 

The other human was young like you, maybe in their early 20’s, named Amari. They and Papyrus became good friends after they had met at the nearby gym that Papyrus works at. 

After a “training lesson” by Undyne, which included punching fruits and vegetables to make a very strange (but still good?) spaghetti, you all settled down to marathon terrible movies as you ate.

You ended up quickly becoming good friends with Undyne and Amari like you had the skeleton brothers. The nickname also seemed to stick, Undyne and Amari not realizing they actually hadn’t asked for your real name, but you didn’t mind. Even Papyrus and Sans were in on it. You realized that this was probably going to be a ‘thing’ now.

About halfway through “The Room”, you took out your phone to check the time. “Oh, crap, guys. I didn’t realize it had gotten so late,” you said. “I have to get going, I have work early in the morning.”

You got a couple of groans in response, your new friends sad that you had to take off already. Undyne quickly reached over to grab your phone from you and added her phone number to your contacts. “You better hang with us again, PUNK!”

She handed the phone off to Amari, who did the same. “Yeah, today was a lot of fun! You seem like a really cool person, Panda. Please keep in contact!”

Finally, the phone was in Papyrus’ hands, who followed suit. “YES, INDEED! I TRULY ENJOY YOUR PRESENCE, PANDA. PLEASE COME OVER TO SHARE FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI AGAIN SOMETIME!”

Sans offered to take you home, which you appreciated. You two made your way outside, and a thought came to you.

“Are we going to teleport again?” you asked.

“nah, too much teleporting is bad for humans. everyone has magic, monsters are made of it, but humans have very small reserves of it in their bodies. using too much can make you sick.”

You weren’t sure how to answer, so you just nodded.

“besides, we can take my bike.”

Bike?

He led you downstairs and to a door on the bottom level of the complex. He made his way to a door that had the same number as his apartment on it and went inside.

Inside was a garage. There was a bright red convertible sports car on one side, and a deep blue motorcycle on the other. You couldn’t help but marvel at the two vehicles. They were both… _Really_ fucking cool.

There also seemed to be what looked like a light green tricycle in the corner, along with those little red and yellow toy cars for kids. 

Sans plopped a helmet onto your head, and hopped onto his motorcycle. “whaddya think?”

You thought for a moment. “I guess you’d say that you’re…”

“ _Bad to the bone_ ,” you both supplied, before bursting into laughter.

The motorcycle definitely made the trip a lot shorter, the usual 20-minute walk turned into a short 2-minute drive. You almost regretted that it went by quicker, as you had wanted to spend some more time with Sans.

All in all, it ended up being a really good day for you. You don’t remember the last time you had had this much fun, and being with people who genuinely wanted you around made you feel really good about yourself.

After walking you to your door, Sans surprised you by giving you a tight hug. You hesitantly hugged him back, and you both stood there for a moment. You were surprised to find him somewhat soft, instead of hard edges. It was very comforting.

After a moment, he pulled away and put his hands on your shoulders, and looked into your eyes.

“look, kid. i want you to remember something for me. i’ll be here for you in case you ever need any help or just need someone to talk to. please remember that you’re important, and we all really like having you around.”

No one had ever told you before that you were important. His words surprised you and you gave him a watery smile before pulling him back into a hug. When you finally pulled away, he literally _winked_ out of existence. A moment later, you could hear his motorcycle engine rev as he took off.

~*~

Sans couldn’t help but still be worried about you, even after dropping you off, but he knew he couldn’t hang around you 24/7. There was something about you that seemed to draw him to you, despite only just meeting you.

He remembered when he was in a similar situation as yours. Despite making their way to the surface, he still continued to suffer from depression. In the timeline previous to this one, he ended up taking his life, causing Frisk to reload to get him back. At first, he was angry. Angry that Frisk had taken the choice away from him. But after seeing how upset Frisk was, he promised to never do it again.

With Frisk’s insistence, he ended up getting the help he so desperately needed, and slowly began to get out of his slump. After so long, he was finally able to start feeling truly happy again. That’s when his HoPe raised. It was the first time he had seen it higher than one in… He forgets how long.

Frisk was much more aware than the average 13-year-old, but he figured that after living through so many timelines, they weren’t exactly a 13-year-old now. He thinks the next time you come over, he’ll have to have Frisk come, too. Maybe they could help you.

When he gets home that night, his thoughts are still filled with you before he finally drifts to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look. you can't tell me that after so many years on the surface that you are the first human that the group becomes friends with. papy is too cute to have only 1 human friend aside from frisk.
> 
> amari is genderfluid/ n/b because frisk is oftentimes the only n/b character in fics and i thought that should change.
> 
> also look. i know i said that i would TRY for updating every other day, but they key word here is try. lol. i hope you'll forgive me if i skip a day or so.
> 
> as a little reminder, here is my blog in case you have any questions or additional comments, please feel free to stop by!
> 
> http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com/


	4. Closing Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter! Yay! Some shit starts to happen.

It’s been a month or two since Sans and everyone else had come into your life and you’ve really enjoyed spending time with them. They always made you feel incredibly happy when you were around them. During one of your hangouts, you had met Alphys, Undyne's shy fiancée. You two had quickly bonded over anime, sharing your favorites with each other. 

Your day started off normal as usual, aside from the fact that you have to work a double shift today at your waitressing job due to one of your coworkers bailing last minute. You’re a bit peeved, but the prospect of a bigger paycheck makes up for it.

You had been zoning in and out almost constantly all day, having to be snapped back to attention by your manager a couple of times. You know that on days where you zone out a lot, there’s a high chance of you having a bad night. You wonder if you should contact Sans about it because he DID tell you that you could always talk to him if you needed it. You had a feeling that you might take him up on that offer tonight.

As the thought crossed your mind, your phone vibrated in your pocket, as if on cue. It’s from Sans. His timing is extra perfect because your shift break just started, and you get two hours to yourself before your second shift starts.

 **snas:** knock knock

 **You:** Who’s there?

 **snas:** nana

 **You:** Nana who?

 **snas:** nana your business

He then proceeds to send you a stock image of a [threatening grandma](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-04/7/10/enhanced/webdr09/enhanced-11165-1428416151-22.jpg), causing you to double over in laughter.

You two pass terrible knock knock jokes back and forth as you walk home to feed and cuddle Fiera. Before you know it, your two-hour break is almost over and you have to make your way back to work. Sans asks what time you get off and then promises to walk you home after work. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling in your chest knowing that he cares enough to take time out of his day to make sure you get home safe.

It’s begun to get late, your second shift finally almost over. You think you maybe have an hour or so left. The crowds always tend to get somewhat sketchy at night, which is why you prefer your usual morning shifts.

You see some sketchy looking men walk in, a group of five, and think to yourself that hopefully you won’t have to deal with them too much.

The establishment you work at is mostly anti-monster, not blatantly turning monsters away, (because who would want to miss out on extra money) but monsters aren’t exactly treated with respect inside the restaurant. You already hated that fact, but even more so now that your new friends have proven themselves to be kinder and more attentive than any human you had met before.

Because of this fact, however, racists tend to hang around the restaurant. You hadn’t exactly told any of your new friends where you worked so that they wouldn’t get hurt trying to visit you. When Sans had offered to walk you home, you told him to meet you down the street from the diner. He didn't question it.

You hated working this job, but you had needed the money at the time when you got it. You hoped that you could get a new job soon.

Though you prefer to avoid them, you tend to take it upon yourself to listen in on conversations held by racists in case they were planning on doing something harmful.

You're glad you decided to do so tonight. Pretending to clean the table next to the group, you can just barely make out their hushed whispers to each other.

“Look, tonight’s as good as any to do it. It’s a Friday night and a lot of them are going to be there.”

“Yeah,” douchebag number two, as you had dubbed him, chimes in. “The place is always open late on account of it being a pub. I only ever see one or two humans go in there, the fucking traitors,” he snarls. 

“Well yeah, but other than the rare human, it seems to be a monster gathering spot,” the third man says. “It’s the perfect place to hit.

The fourth man begins to speak, “I’m still pissed that they sold such a prime spot on Broadway to a fucking monster. I’d had my eye on that place for _months_ before that... _Thing_ swooped in and took it.”

Hearing more than enough, you quickly ask your manager if you can step outside to make an emergency call. He reluctantly agrees. You make your way to the back of the restaurant, all but running in your worry.

You call up the local police department and begin to tell them what you had heard, but after the fact slips that their target is a monster establishment, you hear them quickly lose interest. You know that their promise to keep an eye out is an empty one.

You’re furious. Figures that the police wouldn’t care. You suddenly remember during one of your conversations with Undyne that she was the Captain Deputy Chief of the station, making you angrier yet that they care so little about the monsters.

You call up Undyne, and she answers almost immediately. You begin to explain the situation. She’s _livid_.

“Those goddamn **BASTARDS!** I’ll figure out who the fuck took your call and have their asses demoted in one way or another. Who else have you told about this?”

“Just you and those useless jerks at the station.”

“Well, thanks for letting me know, Panda. I’ll get in contact with some of my pals and see what we can do about it.” Her tone becomes flat and serious, and you can tell she’s getting into work-mode. “What else can you tell me about the situation?”

“Um... They were saying something about the place being located at a prime spot on Broadway.”

“Hm… They must be talking about Grillby’s. I’m not surprised, he and Muffet have the most popular places in town.”

“I haven’t heard any other details, but I’ll see if I can eavesdrop some more to find out anything else. I’ll call you as soon as I can, but for now, I have to get back to work.”

“No problem, punk! You do your thing. But look,” her voice became deadly serious. “Whatever you do, _please_ be careful. Those anti-monster fucks can be a merciless bunch, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

You smile fondly at her concern. “Don’t worry, Undyne. I promise I’ll be careful.”

You quickly made your way back inside, getting right back into the flow of things. You try to subtly stay around the violent group, trying to get as many details as you can, but some of the men begin to get leery-eyed at you. You decide to not push your luck. 

The men quickly leave soon after, but not before you find out that it’s going to take place a bit after you get off work, giving you plenty of time to warn Undyne.

Your shift is almost over and you’re starting to feel dead on your feet, exhausted from working all day. You manager sees you begin to wilt and he lets you go home almost a half hour early, considering most of the dinner rush has started to clear out and not many people come this late at night.

You gladly take the offer and run out of the diner before calling Undyne up again.

You forget to let Sans know that you’ve gotten off work early.

You begin your walk home, quickly letting her know every other detail you had managed to pick up from the group before their leave.

As you walk and talk, you begin to get an uneasy feeling. You slow your walk before quickly whipping your head around and what you see makes your stomach drop to your toes.

“Undyne…” you whisper.

She quickly catches onto the panic in your voice. “What is it? What’s wrong?!”

“Undyne, I… I think I’m being followed. I might just be paranoid, but… I could’ve sworn that I just saw someone duck out of sight right as I turned around.”

Her calm authoritative voice comes back as she tries to keep you from panicking. “Look, Panda, I need you to quickly make your way to the nearest well-lit, populated area and wait for me, okay? I won’t let anything happen to you. Stay on the phone with me. I’m on my way.”

You had stopped walking, frozen in place with fear, but Undyne’s words give you the courage to keep going, your pace quickening with anxiety.

As you speed walk, you hear a noise behind you, quickly realizing that it’s the sound of footsteps approaching you.

Fast.

“Undyne!” you scream into the receiver. “They’re chasing me! What do I do?!” You begin to cry in utter terror as you break into a sprint. 

Her panicked voice is cut off as the arm holding your phone is wrenched behind your back, your face and torso slammed into the brick wall next to you, a second hand coming up to cover your mouth to prevent you from screaming.

You hear Undyne yelling desperately from the phone before the sound fades away completely as a second man rips the phone from your hand and throws it as far as he can.

The man pinning you moves his face right next to your ear, and you can feel his hot and heavy breath on your neck. You shudder.

“Look, kid,” he drawls. “We don’t exactly appreciate people snooping around in our business.”

The second man tucks something under his arm as he gets a piece of cloth to gag you with, grabbing your hair roughly and tilting it back away from the wall so that he can get the cloth around your face.

With your mouth covered, the first man uses his greater strength to grab your other arm, which had been flailing to try to hit something, and pins it to your other wrist behind your back before tying them together with a rope.

The second man then grabs the item he had tucked under his arm, and you recognize that it’s a metal bat.

“Nothin’ personal.” he says, before raising the bat above his head.

You feel and hear a sharp, painful crack on your head before everything goes black, and then you feel nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and now for our regularly scheduled anti-monster assholes that no surface /reader fic is complete without
> 
> i already have ch 5 done (just started on 6) and im considering if i wanna upload it tomorrow or stick with the every other day schedule so i can keep ahead a bit, but i mean its up to you guys. what do you think?
> 
> you can comment your thoughts or send me an ask over at http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com/ !!!


	5. FROGGY FRESH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **IMPORTANT NOTE**  
> This is your warning for some very slight sexual abuse that takes place in this chapter. The paragraphs affected are marked with a *** at the beginning and the end if you wish to skip it. Also a violence happens.
> 
> So I felt kinda bad leaving off on a cliffhanger last time and I was up all night anyway so I finished this up and all of Chapter 6! But dang I need to cool my jets for a bit, so the next chapter probably won't be coming out until Tuesday or so, that way I can stay ahead of the story a bit. I hope you enjoy! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Sans checks his phone, waiting at the spot you had told him to wait for you. He’s arrived really early, a bit too eager to see you. He’s already figured that you told him to wait away from your workplace because there is probably some anti-monster racism at your workplace.

He quickly gets bored of waiting, and with a shrug, he decides to make his way to where you work. He knew you worked as a waitress, so he went to the closest diner in the area.

Once he arrives, he waits outside. He occasionally glances into the large windows lining the diner, trying to spot you. After a couple more minutes pass and he has yet to see you, he decides to go in and ask.

As he steps inside, the door makes a light tinkling noise, alerting the hostess that someone has arrived. She quickly turns to him, wearing a professional smile which quickly vanishes when she sees that he is a monster.

Internally sighing, Sans decides to try to stay as civil as possible.

“hey, could you tell me if pa- uh, i mean…” Shit, he’s already messed up. It’s only their group of friends that call you by your nickname. They’re going to be suspicious of him now. “could you tell me if ____ is here?”

The hostess sneers at him, face contorting into disgust.

“Look, I’m not going to give out my co-workers personal info to some fucking weirdo monster stalker who hardly knows her name.” As opposed to a stalker that DOES know your name? “Leave her alone and get out before I call the police.” She points to the door to drive her point home.

Sans merely shrugs, completely unphased. He was used to humans acting this way. He didn’t want to cause any trouble for you, so he left without another word. As he makes his way outside, his phone begins to ring. He quickly answers to a frantic and rambling Undyne on the line.

“Sans! Oh, my god, I need your help. I think Panda was just kidnapped. She left work early and was telling me about a raid she had overheard being planned,” Undyne’s voice lowered to a growl. “Then she screamed for help before the line went dead. I have to get the word out for the raid so that people aren’t killed, but I’ll be looking for her.”

As Undyne speaks, his eye lights disappear completely, leaving nothing but impossibly dark voids in his eye sockets.

“i’ll find her,” he promises, before abruptly hanging up.

His magic sparks and twists, left eye beginning to flash blue and yellow as he stretches his senses, teleporting everywhere around the city, searching for the flare of your soul.

If you’re hurt, someone is seriously going to get fucking dunked on.

~*~

You wake up slowly, in complete darkness as a bag covers your head. You’re tied to a chair and you’re slightly delirious, the numerous voices around you sounded garbled, your head throbbing painfully. You make out some words here and there, and it’s obvious that they’re planning their method of attack.

There’s something lukewarm and sticky on your head, dripping down over your right eye and down your cheek, making the bag stick to your face in spots. You realize that you’ve been out for awhile, the sticky feeling is blood already drying on your face.

The men notice you begin to move your head around, trying desperately to understand the voices a bit better. You can hear footsteps approaching you and a moment later, the bag is ripped violently from your head so that the men can interrogate you.

Voices begin to come at you from every angle, and you’re still too out of it to focus properly.

“What did you hear?”

“Who did you tell?”

“Why the fuck are you siding with them? You fucking traitor.”

“Wait a second, I recognize her! Yeah, this fucking slut visits that apartment complex swarmed with monsters all the time. She must be their plaything to make money. Disgusting.” You hear someone spit and a moment later you feel it on your face. You cringe.

“I overheard her talking on the phone, sounded like she was talking to an Undyne. Isn’t that the fish bitch that bribed its way into becoming Captain Deputy at the police station?”

“Shit, we might have cops on our tail soon. We need to get this plan in motion. Some of us will stay here to watch over this _thing,_ ” he gestures to you “in case someone tries to come for her. If she’s friends with that fish thing, she might know the ambassador. We might be able to use her as a bargaining chip.”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s get the fuck outta here.” Your vision is still blurry, but you see a majority of the men begin to make their way to the exit.

One of the men who stayed behind makes his way over to you, looking you up and down lewdly.

***

“It’s too bad you’re a monster fucker. You’ve got a nice body,” he says as he begins to run his hands up and down your sides.

Your stomach twists in panic, and you choke back a sob as the man begins to grab at your breasts and hips. You struggle against him and try to scream against the cloth stuffing and covering your mouth. He punches you in the face in response.

“Shut the fuck up. Nobody is coming for you.” he snarls, before his voice drops a couple of octaves. “You just need someone to show you what human men have to offer.”

The words make your blood run cold, and you go stock still, eyes widening. You try to fight against him again, thrashing violently, and earn a broken nose.

He begins to tear away your shirt, and something breaks within you. You know the easiest way to handle this situation. You stop struggling and screaming, and the man seems pleased. You want to fight back, but your body and mind instead go absolutely numb, your body beginning to shut down completely.

***

Your shirt is almost completely torn off when the lights flicker off for a moment. When the light turns back on, Sans is there between you and the two men that were in front of you. They both fall backward in surprise. 

You could cry in relief, but your body is unresponsive still. You can feel magic begin to spark through the room, feeling like static on your skin and making the fine hair on your arms begin to raise.

~*~

Sans is pissed.

Sharpened bones begin to shoot from the ground in an attempt to frighten the men and make them leave, only some of the bones grazing them and giving them long, jagged gashes on their extremities and torsos, and the men howl in pain.

One of them jumps up, bat overhead, and charges Sans. He dodges it effortlessly. The second man finally regains his footing and also charges for Sans. Sans doesn’t even bother to turn to look at the second man, instead harshly grabbing his soul as his left eye flashes blue. 

The feeling makes the man gag before he is violently thrown, causing a dent in the metal wall and knocking him out cold.

The first man begins to look hesitant after seeing his ally thrown, but lunges anyway, only to have a blunted bone shoot from the ground to slam into his chest. You hear a huff of air as the man’s breath is knocked from him, along with a sickening crack as he’s thrown into the air. You guess that the impact must’ve at least shattered some ribs.

The fall had made him land awkwardly. He most likely damaged his arm in some way when he landed. He writhed on the ground in pain, trying to regain his breath.

The second man had woken up while the first man was being thrown and attempts to make a run for it. Sans isn’t going to let the man that was hurting you get away that easily.

Sans reached for his soul again and violently grabbed in in the same way he did before. His left eye flashed wildly as the man was thrown about the room. You heard slam after slam, and after some time, the man stopped screaming. The slamming didn’t.

With a final flick of his wrist, Sans throws the now-limp man into the first one on the floor, making him cry out in renewed pain as his broken bones are jostled.

You want to call out to Sans for help when a third man slinks from the shadows to put a knife to your neck, but your body is still completely unresponsive.

Sans huffs in satisfaction when the man lands and turns to look at you. When he notices the man with the knife to your neck, his eye lights become pinpricks and focus on nothing but the sharp, glinting metal in the man’s hand. The once constantly-present smile began to tug down into a frown.

The third man snickers, knowing that he’s caught Sans in a temporary stalemate.

“Look, freak,” he begins. “Leave here right now and we might let her go. You keep doing your stupid shit and I’ll slice her throat.”

“you hurt her and _i won’t hesitate to **kill you.**_ ” Sans snarls.

The man laughs darkly before dramatically shrugging, arms in the air in mock exasperation. “Okay, sure. But while you’re busy killing me, you’ll be letting her _die._ ”

Sans uses the man’s mistake to his advantage. In his cocky shrug, he moves the knife away from your throat for a split second. It’s just what Sans needs. 

Sans grabs the man’s soul and quickly shoves him away from you while pummeling him with blunt bones zipping through the air. He then quickly summons a small, beast-like skull slightly in front of him. The… Thing’s jaw splits in the middle and a loud, unnatural noise fills the warehouse, along with a blinding flash of light. The knife is destroyed, along with the hand holding the knife.

The man crumples to the ground, screaming in agony as he clutches his mangled arm to his chest.

After doing a quick check to make sure all three men are out of commission and that there are no others waiting around, he runs to you and begins to untie you. He notices your blank expression and torn shirt and begins to speak softly to you in an attempt to bring you back as he frees you.

“you’re okay now.”

Your legs are cut loose.

“i’ve got you.” 

Your wrists are untied.

“you’re safe.”

He takes off the gag and gently picks you up.

“i’m not going anywhere.”

~*~

His words, though kind, don’t do much to quell the terror and panic violently swirling inside of you. You can do nothing but blankly stare, only barely comprehending his words.

You have the brief feeling of falling again. It’s hard to notice when your vision is still wobbly and blurry, but it successfully throws off your equilibrium. 

Suddenly, you’re in Sans’ room and he sets you gingerly on his bed. He stares at you for a moment before grabbing a blanket and wrapping you up. He then twines his hand in yours and exhales sadly, hating the swirling darkness covering your beautiful soul.

He uses his other hand to fish around in his pocket while turning away from you before calling Undyne. He lets her know that you’re safe now and asks how things are on her end. 

She had gotten most of the old royal guard together, who had followed her into the police force, and hid nearby at Grillby’s. When they saw the men approaching, they ambushed. It was an easily-won fight, even though the men outnumbered the monsters.

They were quickly put under custody and Sans quickly shoots off the address of the warehouse where he had found you, before hanging up.

When he turns back to you, your eyes are overflowing with tears and you’re shaking. He seems slightly surprised, though he realizes he shouldn’t be after what you’ve been through. He begins to gently stroke your cheek with his knuckles to calm you.

He squeezes your hand before talking quietly as to not upset you, “is it okay if i get you a different shirt to change into?” You nod.

“do you want me to help you change?” You think for a moment, before nodding again. He quickly gets up to grab a shirt from his dresser and helps you get out of the ruined shirt, quickly removing it from your view before putting on the new shirt and grabbing your hand again.

“do you feel sick? like you might throw up?” You shake your head. 

“okay, that’s good. that means you probably don’t have a real bad concussion, but you need to let me know as soon as you feel different. do you want to go to a hospital?” You violently shake your head. Sans shushes you, returning to stroking your cheek and murmuring that it’ll be okay.

“hey, i have to let go so that i can go get some things to clean your wounds. _i will be right back._ i promise. you’re going to be okay.”

You feel yourself begin to panic at the thought of being left alone, but… He promised. You slowly nod in acknowledgment and he reluctantly releases your hand before making his way out into the hallway. You roll to your side, still numb, tears still flowing freely.

After a quick stop at Papyrus’ room to let him know to keep his voice down because you were hurt, the two of them quickly began to put things together to patch you up.

When they both make their way back into the room, you release the tension you didn’t know you were holding in your body.

At the sight of your wounds, nose trickling with blood, dried blood on your head and a large bruise beginning to bloom over the left side of your face, Papyrus’ face contorts into true anger. It’s an expression you’d never seen on the gentle skeleton before, and he quickly rids himself of the look, instead taking on a gentle demeanor before approaching.

“Hello, Panda,” his voice unusually quiet and controlled. “I am so sorry that you have been harmed. I am saddened to think that not all humans are as great as you, nyeh-heh!”

You smile weakly at him, though you’re still crying. Seeing your smile encourages him and he begins to lavish you with praise as he and Sans begin to clean your wounds.

It takes them some time, and you have a chance to calm down as they dress your wounds. They had to try to reposition your nose, warning you it would hurt, but you didn’t even flinch when they set it back into its normal spot. Papyrus' hand then glows a green color as he holds it to your face. To help ease the pain and bruising, he says.

Once you’ve been all cleaned up, head wrapped with gauze, you had finally stopped crying. Papyrus begins takes his leave to go to bed and Sans gets up to follow him but is stopped by Papyrus.

“Worry not, dear brother! I will not need a story tonight. I will be perfectly fine! Please spend time with our Panda and make her feel better.”

 _Our Panda,_ you thought. You liked the sound of that.

Sans nodded gratefully and Papyrus quietly closed the door behind him as he left. When he did, Sans quickly made his way over to you and held your hand again. You and Sans’ gazes met and he began to slowly stroke your arm, his eyebrows scrunching together as a sad look grazed his features for a moment before he quickly collected himself as to not worry you.

“you, uh, really spooked me there, panda,” he said, wearing a bittersweet smile. “you worried me to _death_ ,” he said, knocking on his skull with his free hand. He felt accomplished when you let out a soft chuckle.

You silently stared at each other for a moment, both of you just happy that the other is safe.

After a moment of internal debate, you open up your blanket in a gesture to invite him to join you. He seems surprised for only a moment before gladly obliging. He crawls into the blanket burrito you’ve made for the two of them and holds you close with your head resting on his chest.

You can hear a soft humming noise with your head flush against his chest and the noise helps you to finally begin to relax a bit. You felt safe in Sans’ arms. You still feel jittery and panicky and upset, but above all, you feel exhausted. You just want to sleep. You can deal with this in the morning.

You both eventually drift to sleep, waking occasionally from unpleasant dreams. When you and Sans notice that you’re still holding each other, it makes it easier to get back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes i think to myself "man this is moving too slow, people are gonna lose interest, heres a BUNCH OF THINGS AT ONCE" and then i panic and think "ok shit what if it's moving too fast?? and people get turned off???" so hopefully i find a happy medium soon because dang
> 
> also this chapter was originally gonna be Haddaway but i think FROGGY FRESH fits better
> 
> as always, my tumblr is at illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com so feel free to stop by and yell at me


	6. Look After You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TUESDAY IS HERE and with my habit of not ever sleeping at night, you get another chapter bright and early in the morning! (well, bright and early for me at least)  
> lil fluff at the beginning and then just some talkin'

When you woke the next morning, your head was still throbbing and you felt slightly nauseous. You were laying on your back with a pressure on your chest. You went to reach your face to rub your eyes when you realized that you were thoroughly tangled. It took you a moment to realize with what you were tangled with.

There was a heavy duvet on you, along with a skeleton to your right whose legs were twined with yours, his arms possessively hugging you to him, using your chest as a pillow.

A blush crept up your face from the compromising position and you couldn’t help but giggle.

Craning your neck to get a better look at Sans, you decided that his sleeping face is adorable, despite the small pool of drool forming on your shirt. You couldn’t bring yourself to wake him. You were just glad that you didn’t have to work today.

Your only free limb was your right arm and you managed to get it over his shoulder and began to slowly trace your fingers along Sans’ spine. He shivered slightly at the initial touch but then hummed in contentment.

You tried to remember what happened yesterday, but after being attacked, everything in your mind became a blur. The feeling was similar to waking from a dream and barely remembering the details. Bits and pieces begin to trickle to the front of your brain despite you not wanting to think about them, and it immediately dampened your mood. You heave a sigh, knowing you’ll have to try to come to terms with it eventually.

That train of thought is interrupted as your phone begins to ring-

Wait.

Your phone?

“paps went out and found it for you this morning.” Sans suddenly pipes up, noticing the confusion on your face. He’s got his neck craned up to look at you from his position. 

After a moment, he realizes where he is. Eyes blown wide and quickly sitting up, a light blue color begins to dust his cheeks.

“ah- shit, sorry. i must’ve shifted too much in my sleep.” You giggle at his embarrassment, shaking your head as to tell him not to worry about it. You reached for your phone, glad for the excuse to not think about what happened. The screen is shattered pretty bad, but still usable.

Seeing Undyne’s name flashing, you answer quickly. Her voice is surprisingly gentle when she begins to talk.

“Hey, punk. How’re you feelin’?”

“Like hell.” Your voice is raspy and rough and you begin to rub your temple with your free hand. “My head hurts real bad, and… I don’t really remember much of yesterday. Just running and having my phone thrown away.”

She hums in response. “That’s to be expected, I think. You got hit pretty damn hard.” You can hear sadness mixed with relief in her voice as she continues, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

You smile at her concern. You’re still a bit unused to people worrying and it never fails to make you feel touched by how much your friends care about you.

“Thanks for helping me, Undyne. I don’t know what I would’ve done without your help.”

“Oh, don’t thank me, thank Sans. He’s the one who got you out of there.”

You sat up slightly in surprise, your gaze meeting Sans’. “Really?”

“Yeah! He may act like a lazy sack of bones, but apparently he can pack a punch. Speaking of which…” her voice loses it’s gentler tone, and she suddenly sounds much sterner than before. “I need to speak with him. Tell him I’ll be over in a couple of minutes. See you in a bit, Panda.” 

She hangs up abruptly, leaving you sitting there, staring at your phone, wondering what the hell she was talking about.

You sit up fully and direct your attention back to Sans. “Undyne said she’s on her way to talk to you. Do you know why?”

Sans scoffs, looking to the floor. “most likely about last night. i may have gone a bit overboard, but those fuckers deserved it.”

“SANS! LANGUAGE!” Papyrus suddenly shouts from the doorway, startling the both of you. He levels Sans with a stern glare. “QUARTER FOR THE SWEAR JAR!” He then turns to you, smiling kindly. “PANDA, I HAVE MADE BREAKFAST! PLEASE COME ENJOY SOME WITH ME! SANS, YOU TOO!”

Breakfast sounded amazing. You hadn’t eaten since your shift break yesterday and you were famished. Even the fettuccine omelets were delicious to you.

After everyone finishes eating, the brothers make themselves comfortable on the couch, knowing that you’ll insist on doing the dishes and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. As you begin to collect the dishes to wash, there’s a loud knock at the door. Papyrus somersaults over the back of the loveseat and stands up quickly in front of the door with a flourishing pose before opening it.

At the door is Undyne with Amari and Alphys at her sides. Papyrus quickly ushers them in and they all make their way to the living room, you included. Sans makes sure to sit next to you and Canela jumps onto your lap before stretching out, laying across your and Sans’ legs. You smile fondly at her and begin to pet her. You’ll have to go home soon to check on Fiera.

Amari gives Sans’ pet rock a soft pat before sitting down.

“Alright, Sans.” Undyne starts, glaring at him. “What the hell happened last night? What did you do to those guys?”

Sans just shrugs nonchalantly. “i just roughed ‘em up a bit, that’s all. 'sides, i made extra sure not to kill anyone. just enough to scare 'em.”

Undyne’s gaze narrows, waiting for him to continue. When he doesn’t elaborate, she drops her head with a sigh, knowing that she won’t be getting any more information from him.

“What about you, Panda? Did you see anything?”

You scrunch your eyebrows together and stare at your hands before shaking your head slowly. “I… No, I’m sorry. I still don’t remember last night at all.”

You weren’t lying, at least not completely. You do remember lots of screaming and hearing the crunch of bone, but there seemed to be a block on the rest of what happened. You stop petting Canela and begin to wring your hands together in frustration.

Suddenly, Sans’ hand comes into view as he places it over yours and gives you a reassuring squeeze. You look up to meet his gaze.

“hey, don’t stress yourself over it.” he says in a gentle tone, ”you had a bad night, no one blames you for not being able to remember.” Everyone else nods in agreement.

You give him a grateful look, glad that you don’t have to explain yourself further.

After giving you and Sans a moment, Undyne begins to speak again. “Well, I have some bad news. We weren’t able to capture every single human that was at the raid last night.” That thought itself was concerning, but even still, Undyne continued. “Of the ones we DID capture, they had some… Pretty bad criminal records. Most of them had done raids of a similar caliber before, but some of them… They were wanted for murder, committed against monsters and humans who were known to sympathize with monsters..”

You can’t help the gasp that escapes you at the information. Everyone else in the room seems disturbed by the information as well.

She continued, “Those three men you had brutalized got away as well because there was no one at the warehouse you described when we got there, though it was obvious a pretty bad fight had taken place.” She narrows her eye at Sans again and he leans back with his hands behind his head, ignoring her. She huffs in annoyance.

Undyne is too busy glaring a hole into the side of Sans’ skull, so Alphys takes over the conversation.

“Unfortunately, b-because some of them have gotten away, we’ll all n-need to be extra careful,” She turns to you and Sans. “Especially y-you two… Um… Since the th-three men that Sans fought will recognize you, they’ll most likely want to get revenge and, uh, will use their injuries t-to gain more support.”

You nod solemnly. That makes sense. You’ll have to go out and get pepper spray or something…

Undyne interrupts your thoughts, “Oh, yeah, I should probably get to the point. The main reason Alphys and I picked up Amari before coming over was to ask you two something.” She gestures to you and Amari, and the two of you exchanged confused glances before focusing back on Undyne.

“Alphys and I want you two to live with us!”

Eyes blown wide, you look at Alphys who nods in encouragement.

Undyne continues. “Like Alphys said, things are going to be dangerous around here. Especially now that the anti-monster groups in the area have been given a reason to hate monsters,” Sans winces. “And anyone who is seen with a monster is going to need to be protected.”

You’re shocked, to say the least, but Amari looks like they’re about to burst with excitement.

Their smile falters for a moment, however, when they voice your concerns. “Are you guys sure, though? Having roommates can be tough sometimes.”

“R-right!” you begin to ramble, “I don’t want to intrude on you guys and it’ll be cramped with me there and-” You’re cut off by Undyne reaching over the armrest of the couch to put you in a headlock. Canela lets out a small “mrow” in annoyance from being jostled from her comfortable spot. She’s about to noogie you when she receives a sharp glare from Sans and only then does she remember your injuries. She releases you with a sheepish grin.

“Don’t be a stranger, Panda! Alphys is making good headway on her soul research and with me as Captain, we’re both decently well off and have enough money to buy a house,” You and Amari interrupt her with objections, saying not to buy a house just because of you two, but she continues. “Don’t sweat it, nerds!”

Alphys chimes in again. “We’ve b-been saving up for a c-couple of years and, well, s-since we’re g-getting married soon,” Alphys blushes violently, her stutter becoming slightly worse with shyness, “Undyne and I h-have been planning on b-buying a new home a-anyway!” 

Undyne picks up where Alphys leaves off. “Our lease is up next month so this is the perfect time for us to get a new house!”

“IT’LL BE LIKE A PERMANENT SLEEPOVER!” Papyrus exclaims with stars in his eyes, throwing his arms in the air. Undyne agrees with a whoop and mirrors his action.

You're still unsure and your mouth tugs down into a slight frown. Undyne notices this and her expression softens before she continues.

“Panda, you and Amari have been great friends to us. You’ve made a difference in all of our lives by showing us that not all humans are bad. You’ve accepted us wholeheartedly and that means everything to us!” Sans, Papyrus and Alphys all nod in agreement. "Please, let us make it up to you by staying with us. You deserve a nice place to go home to."

That’s all it takes to fully convince you that it’ll be a good idea. You tear up, truly able to tell just how much your new friends care for you.

“Okay,” you finally agree with a watery smile. Sans puts his arm on your shoulders and you turn to look at him. “I do kinda hate my apartment anyway,” you say with a chuckle. Amari agrees, saying that living alone can get lonely.

“Then w-we’re glad to help you get out of there!” Alphys exclaims proudly. “U-until arrangements can be made for you to move in, we should all s-stick together. Amari, you can stay with Undyne and I.” She and Undyne then turn to you with mischievous looks on their faces. “P-Panda, you can stay with Sans and Papyrus!”

You give them a questioning look, not really understanding what their expressions mean. You decide to ignore it, to Undyne’s mild annoyance.

“THAT IS A WONDERFUL IDEA, ALPHYS!” Papyrus jumps up from his spot on the couch. “I WILL RETURN SHORTLY WITH PANDA’S THINGS!” 

Before anyone can stop him, he tears out the door.

“works for me, too.” Sans says, glancing at you, “it’ll make it easier for me to keep an eye on you.”

You blush at his words and hear Undyne snicker. “Yeah, hanging out with you guys will be fun! I can finally bring my games over and kick your butt for once.”

Sans scoffs and mutters an ‘as if.’ You playfully glare at him before continuing, your expression softening. “But I still feel bad for intruding and I know you’re gonna try to make me take your bed, but please let me have the couch. It’ll make me feel better.”

Sans opens his mouth to argue but is cut off when Papyrus bursts in the door. “PANDA! I SUDDENLY REMEMBERED THAT I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE YOU LIVE.” 

You giggle, “That’s no problem, Paps. I’ll go with you to get my things.” You cradle Canela in your arms before standing and deposit her on her cat tower.

“We better get outta here, too,” Undyne says, standing up. “We gotta go get some of Amari’s things from their place.”

You all say your goodbyes, and Sans turns to you. “i’d join you and pap, but i gotta get to work. i’ll see you guys later tonight, though.” He blinks out of existence and a couple seconds later, you see him beginning to leave the complex at a blinding speed on the green tricycle you had seen in the garage. Almost sensing that you’re watching him, he turns to the window you’re standing at and winks before turning a corner.

The sight is so funny to you that you can’t even laugh and instead just stand there in utter amazement.

“WELL, PANDA, LET US BE OFF!” Papyrus quickly locks the door to his apartment (wait, it’s _your_ apartment, too, now!) and then races you down to the garage.

As you two walk in, you’re absolutely stoked and pump your fist. “Hell yeah! I finally get to ride in your sickass convertible!” 

Papyrus laughs and agrees that 'IT IS INDEED 'SICKASS'' before the two of you hop in and take off. On the way over, you two make idle chit chat about all of the different types of pasta you can experiment with while you live there. His love for pasta almost matches yours.

Almost.

You two continue to chat as you pull into your crappy complex and you begin to lead the way to your room.

When you get to your floor, you abruptly stop. Papyrus follows your gaze to the apartment door that’s been partially torn off of its hinges. You immediately run to the door and tear it open the rest of the way, taking in the scene.

Your tiny apartment is absolutely trashed. The walls have gaping holes in them and the ones that aren’t smashed have obscenities spray-painted onto them, saying things like "slut", "monster lover", "disgrace". Everything is torn to shreds and smashed, everything valuable having been stolen. 

You stand there, not comprehending what you’re seeing. Papyrus makes his way over and stands next to you and gasps, his hand covering his mouth.

Then you realize and collapse to your knees, sobbing loudly.

Fiera is nowhere in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember that thing i said about feeling bad about cliffhangers ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) even more bad news for you, ch 7 is coming along a bit slowly. damn writers block. i told a good friend of mine about my fic though and we've been bouncing ideas off of each other so hopefully that'll make things move along a bit more smoothly from here on out?
> 
> man oh man did it hurt my soul to write that last line. because i mean. if you remember, the cat in the story is basically just my cat.
> 
> shit. fuck. i just realized i subconsciously based the reader off of korra, just with long hair. so i mean if you need reference............ there ya go 
> 
> yell at me over at illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com


	7. Sad Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this chapter REALLY DID NOT want to be written.  
> I'm trying to get better at characterization and fleshing people out a bit more so I'm sorry if it's a slow process, this is still the first thing I've ever written and I'm going off of what I've learned from other works and I'm doing my best ┐(‘～`；)┌  
> I hope I can meet all of your standards!!

Papyrus tries to catch you as you collapse from your grief but ends up holding you awkwardly while he kneels. He quickly shoots off a text to Sans with a free hand before walking around to kneel in front of you, hands on your shoulders.

After you calm down a bit, he begins to talk. His voice is soft again like the night before. “Panda, I am so sorry. I promise I will do what I can to help you, but right now we need to figure out what that is. What can I do to help you? What do you want to do right now?”

His soothing voice helps to calm you down and you sniffle a few times before getting up the energy to talk. “I… I guess we should call the police? No, wait, call Undyne. Anyone else won’t actually care.” He nods sadly in agreement. “I’m going to see if anything is salvageable.”

You scrub your face with the long sleeves of Sans’ shirt that he had given you last night before letting Papyrus help you stand up. You begin to make your way around the tiny apartment. As you search and try to assess the full extent to the damage, you can hear Papyrus speaking with Undyne on the phone. 

It seems as if nothing is salvageable. You tear up again as you find the leggings that Undyne had nicknamed you after, torn to shreds. 

After Papyrus had explained the situation, it didn’t take very long for Undyne to show up, having apparently dropped everything else to come and help you. You can’t help but think that she looks very professional in her police uniform, her long hair in a tight bun. She helps you calm down and begins to get what info she can from you.

“Well, if I were to guess,” she starts, “This is most likely part of the group that had kidnapped you. It must’ve taken place around the same time that the main group had gone after Grillby’s.” As she speaks, two bipedal dogs come to join her, standing on either side. “I’ve called in my best trackers to help with the situation as best as we can.”

The dog to her right salutes before standing to attention. “Dogamy, professional tracker, at your service, human!”

The dog to her left seems more relaxed, holding out her paw to shake. “And I’m Dogareesa. It’s nice to meet you, human. I’m sorry for what has happened.”

As you and Papyrus stand outside, watching the Dogi work, he keeps his arm around your shoulders to help comfort you. You’re grateful for it. You and Undyne continue to talk, trying to decipher how they figured out where you live and what to do next.

“I’ve FOUND IT!” The sudden voice from the room startles you. Dogamy bursts from your apartment on all fours, seemingly following a trail, going too fast for anyone to stop or question him.

Luckily Dogareesa decides to explain. “He’s picked up on the scent of the cat. He really likes cats, so there’s no stopping him. He’ll come back once he’s figured out where the trail has led to.” She then turns to Undyne, at full attention. “Ma’am, I can begin to report.”

Undyne nods and quickly pulls out a notepad, ready to write down whatever Dogareesa tells her.

“Three humans, two male and one female, all in their late 20’s and early 30’s. One male and female likely caucasian, the other of mixed heritage.” She begins to walk as they talk, leading the way downstairs. You and Papyrus follow. “Most likely here at 0300 hours, long after the attempted raid on Grillby’s establishment.” She stops at a now-empty parking spot, and sniffs around for a moment. “Getaway car would be a... 1990 Chevrolet Suburban.”

You’re in absolute awe at how good she is. You leave Papyrus’ side to give her a hug and she eagerly returns it. 

You hear footsteps approaching rapidly in the distance and when you turn to look, you see Dogamy making his way back to you. He seems excited... If his furiously wagging tail is any indicator.

“I’ve found it! I’ve found the cat! This way!” He hardly checks to see if you’re following before he takes off running again. You rush to join him with Papyrus on your tail.

He leads his way to a small house in the neighborhood next to your apartment complex. It turns out that an elderly woman had found her early this morning, meowing for food at her back door. The woman is still somewhat shocked from seeing a giant bipedal dog, but she seems friendly.

Once the situation is explained she happily hands your kitten over to you and you can’t stop your tears of joy and relief. You’re glad her skittish nature had made her run because you’re sure that that’s the only thing that had saved her life. That and her gluttony for immediately conning her way into the old woman’s heart. You’ll have to make the woman, Gwen, in her 80's, a thank you gift sometime.

With Fiera back in your custody, you make your way back to Papyrus’ car. There’s nothing else that can be done with your apartment seeing as everything there is either being used as evidence or too destroyed to matter.

You drive back to the apartment quietly, neither of you sure what to say. Fiera seems content to not leave your lap ever again. You wouldn’t mind that.

Once back, you slowly introduce the two cats to each other. After the customary hissing for two hours, both decide that they are too lazy to try to be territorial and became immediate friends.

Papyrus had to leave almost immediately after dropping you off to get to work, but you don’t mind. You spend the next couple of hours cuddling your kitten and making sure she knows she’s loved, thankful to have her back and safe in your arms.

Amari ended up stopping by to drop off some temporary clothes, such as pajamas and a couple of outfits to change into for the next couple of days or so, which you were grateful for.

You had always loved the sense of style that Amari had. They kept their dark blond hair cut short and almost always had a pale salmon colored scarf around their neck that went wonderfully with their hazel colored eyes. They were androgynous and in a word, they were beautiful. 

Amari was very soft-spoken (Surprising since their best friends were Undyne and Papyrus) and it wasn’t that they disliked talking, they just didn’t do it much. You had begun to notice their tells when they wanted to speak, though, because they would begin to fidget their hands.

Noticing this, you decided to help them out. “What’s up, Amari?”

They looked up from their hands to gaze at you. After a moment of internal debate, they began to speak. “I just wanted to say… It’s been really nice having you as a friend. Not just the fact that, well, it’s good to have another human around so that Papyrus and Undyne can better understand our limitations when it comes to training and the like, but… You’ve proven to be a good friend, Panda. And I’m glad to have met you.”

“Aw, c’mon, dude. I’ve cried enough today. Don’t do this to me!” You yelled in mock anguish and draped yourself over the side of the couch dramatically.

Amari laughed, “I’m being serious! You and our friends are more accepting than anyone else I know and it’s more than I could ask for. So… Thank you for being you.”

“Y’know, you’re not so bad yourself,” you tease, pulling Amari into a tight hug. You two stay holding each other for quite some time and only break away to play with the cats once Fiera brings her new fetch toy (a sock) to you.

After an hour or so had passed with you and Amari chasing the cats and throwing toys about, generally just having a good time, they spoke up. "Man, I can't believe how easy it is to get wrapped up playing with these two. They sure are active compared to, like, every other cat I've met."

"They probably aren't even cats," you said, glaring at Canela with suspicion. 

"I really do have to get going, though. I can't let Undyne and Alphys do all of the work getting my stuff over to their place. I had only meant to take a quick break to bring you the clothes, then you got me sucked into watching these guys with you."

"Hey don't try to put your bad decisions on me, that's all you. But hey, it was nice to have you stop by," you hugged them again. "It was really nice to have someone to hang out and forget about the last couple of days with. And... Thanks again for the clothes. I'll be sure to return them once I get some of my own."

"Please don't worry about it, I'm glad to help! It's the least I could do. Don't hesitate to let me know if there's anything else I can do, okay?"

You nod and finally release them, and they leave you to your devices.

You’re so enamored with watching the cats play that you don’t notice the time pass. Before you know, it. Sans is back. He seems to have a bunch of bags full of different types of items.

Apparently once the monster community had found out what had happened, that your home had been destroyed from you eavesdropping and stopping a potentially fatal raid, many of them banded together to help you out as thanks.

A hand-knitted blanket from someone named Toriel, countless pastries from Muffett’s bakery down the street, a voucher from Grillby promising free food for life, and so much more. Sans also mentioned someone named Mettaton who had said he would come by tomorrow to get you new clothes.

The kindness shown to you from the monsters was almost overwhelming. You hated how much you had been crying lately, but at least, this time, it was from joy.

He then surprises you by pulling you into a tight hug. After getting over your initial reaction, you wrap your arms around his shoulders to return the gesture.

“Sans? Are you okay?”

After a moment he pulls back, still holding your waist, and looks into your eyes. He gazes at you with a somber expression, seemingly trying to articulate his words before speaking. After a moment, he starts, “panda, i… i’m so sorry that you have to put up with this. you shouldn’t have to. i’m sorry that you’ve been dragged into the crossfire with these racists.” His gaze leaves yours and drifts to the side, unable to look you in the eye. “it’s not fair to you and i’m surprised you haven’t left already, to be honest. if you did, i wouldn’t blame you.”

You’re surprised by the admission, but you quickly compose yourself and playfully glare at him.

“Sans, don’t be a _bonehead_! Sure, these racists are a pain in the ass, but…” You mirror his earlier solemn expression. “I _literally_ would not be here right now if not for you. I… I can’t express to you just how much that means to me.”

He looks back to you, relieved. You smile fondly at him. “Since you guys have entered my life, it’s easier to wake up in the morning. Sure, I still have my bad days, but they’ve become more manageable.” You smirk playfully before tapping on his nasal bone. “It helps that I have someone to talk to about them.”

He chuckles in disbelief. “didn’t know we all meant that much to you.”

You playfully sigh, exasperated. “Sans, you don’t get it, do you?” He looks at you questioningly. “You’re the best thing to have ever happened to me. You and everyone else have made my life better just by being in it.”

He closes his eyes and presses his forehead to yours. 

“yeah. it’s better with you here, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending was probably the hardest thing to get out, I must've stared at the last paragraph or two for like 2 days straight trying to figure out how to make it end satisfyingly.  
> (I still don't think I did a great job at that OTL)  
> The next couple of chapters are probably gonna be short and filled with fluff and friendship spaghetti so that, again, I can try to work on my characterization and stuff.  
> Since they're gonna be short I'll try to get them out quickly to make up for it.  
> 'Til then, come yell at me over at [my tumblr](https://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com)  
> See you around! (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)


	8. Stressed Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to sansytheskeleton. your comments fuel me.  
> anyway, sorry this one is short. i'm almost done with ch 9 though so i'll try to post it either tomorrow or the day after to make up for it!

The research continued on who it may be that raided your house through the weekend. Everyone was asking if there was any way possible for them to know where you lived exactly in the complex and you were stumped. It was a crowded complex with lots of interior walkways, and the only way to know where you lived is if someone had been following you. The thought makes you shudder.

Luckily(?) you didn’t have to wonder for too long. 

On Monday, on your way into work, you remembered why the Google searches of a 1990 Chevrolet Suburban seemed so familiar to you.

Your boss owned one.

Seeing it sitting outside the diner, you froze. You couldn’t will yourself to walk inside.

You took some deep breaths to quell the panic attack you could feel coming on, and quickly shot a text off to Undyne telling her that you might need backup at work today. You started receiving a flurry of texts from her, asking what was going on, but you had to go inside before you gave your boss a reason to be upset with you.

Upon walking in and being spotted, the atmosphere quickly changed. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing to turn and look at you. The sudden attention sent a shiver up your spine.

You rushed into the back to clock in and immediately noticed the looks from your co-workers. There was the occasional look of guilt or worry, but most seemed upset that you were there, some blatantly glaring at you. Your boss was of the latter. 

Speaking of, he was making his way over to you. You swallowed the lump in your throat at his approach, knowing something bad was going to happen.

“Listen here, ____,” he growled. “I thought we had made it obvious that you weren’t welcome anymore. We know what you’ve been doing outside of work and none of us approve.”

Some of your other co-workers had begun to crowd around, nodding in approval of what their boss was saying. 

“I-I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, sir.” you managed to stutter out.

“Don’t try to treat me like I’m an idiot. You’ve been associating yourself with those things.” He had begun to move closer as he talked and raised a finger to jab at you as he punctuated his words. “You’re. Not. Welcome. Here. Anymore.”

His advance had quickly started to back you into a corner, and you started to panic. Your co-workers were beginning to get riled up as well, some with increasing worry for your well-being and others muttering something about “teaching you a lesson.”

One younger co-worker that had always been kind to you finally stepped forward to put himself between you and your boss. It was obvious immediately how unpopular his action was, as some began to turn on him as well. You put your hand on his shoulder in silent thanks.

Before things could escalate too much, you heard the jingle of people entering the diner and by the sounds of it, there was a lot of people coming in at once despite how early it was. 

Suddenly the back of the diner was flooded with men and women in blue, and Undyne quickly stepped forward to grab your boss harshly by the collar. 

“Are you Joshua Macklin, owner of the Chevrolet Suburban parked outside this establishment?” she growled.

You could tell he was immediately intimidated by Undyne, not surprisingly as she easily stood a head or so above him.

Unable to use his words, he quickly shuddered out a nod.

At his response, she quickly whirled him around and began to cuff him. Gasps erupted from the crowd that had begun to form, co-workers and patrons alike.

“Joshua Macklin, you are under arrest for breaking and entering, larceny, destruction of property, and whatever other shit I can pin on you,” Undyne announced.

“W-Wait! You can’t put all of this all on me! It was THEIR idea!” He shouted, gesturing to two of the co-workers that had begun to crowd in closer.

One man scoffed and folded his arms. “As if! Don’t try to save your ass by dragging us down with you!”

The woman stood completely still for a moment, looking like a deer in the headlights, before dashing off as quickly as she could.

You noted with no small amount of amusement that one of the police officers began to chase her, not really trying until she got a good distance away. They then seemed to make a game of tackling her to the ground to handcuff her.

The other man gave no such trouble and quickly resigned to the fact that he would be taken into custody. Only then did Undyne begin to lead the three perps outside, shouting for everyone to back off and go back to what they were doing.

Though the center of attention had been temporarily taken off of you, with most of the action dying down, it returned, much to your chagrin.

“W-Well, since I’ve been fired, I’ll... Just… Take my leave. Yup.” you stated awkwardly as you began to slink out from the back.

You could feel the glares on your back as you made your way out of the diner. You met up with Undyne out front who had just settled the three who had destroyed your home into her police cruiser.

“Hey, good call on having me head over here,” she said as you joined her at her side. “I’m glad we at least know who did it now. We’ll have to see if they were part of the group that had attacked or if they were just doing it out of their own volition, though I hope it’s the latter. It would at least mean that the people who kidnapped you weren’t also stalking you, and explain how they knew exactly which apartment you lived in.”

You nodded. “Yeah, though I lost my job, it’s kind of a relief. I’ve been meaning to get the hell out of there for awhile now, and though it was kinda scary, this was just the push I needed. Though I guess now I have to do some job hunting.” You sighed. “This won’t be easy.”

Undyne put her hand on your shoulder with a solemn expression. After a moment, her grip tightened and she looked to you with an excited look on her face.

“Hey! I have an idea! Grillby totally loves you since you saved his place from getting raided! Why don’t you ask HIM for a job?! He’d be crazy to say no!”

That was… Actually a really good idea. You can’t be jobless, and it would be the perfect opportunity. No one would harass you for being friends with monsters at a monster owned establishment.

“Undyne... You’re a genius!” You shouted, and jumped up to wrap your arms around her neck in a hug and she gladly returned it, spinning you around before setting you down. “What time does he open?” Without waiting for an answer, you began to run in the direction you knew the restaurant to be. “I’m gonna go apply right now!”

You could hear Undyne chortle in the distance. “Go get ‘em, Panda!” 

The prospect of not getting harassed at work anymore and actually being in a place your friends could visit filled you with glee. You raced your way through town, not even bothering to take a bus, happily jogging to the pub.

Your timing was almost perfect, because as you jogged up to the establishment, you could see a fire elemental walking up to the store and beginning to unlock it.

“Excuse me, sir!” you shouted, waving your arm excitedly. You haven’t actually been to Grillby’s before, so you weren’t sure what to expect, but you assumed the elemental unlocking the place must be the man himself.

He stopped what he was doing to turn to the direction of your voice. As you caught up to him, you had to stoop over to put your hands on your knees in an attempt to catch your breath.

“I… Shouldn’t have run all the way… Here.” you manage out between gasps.

You hear what you think might be chuckling, but it’s similar to crackling firewood. Glancing upward from your bent over position, you could tell that that’s exactly what it was as the fire elemental had what looked like a jagged smile spread across his face.

After finally catching your breath, you stood up straight and held out your hand, trying not to show your apprehension of touching a man made out of fire. “Hi, my name is ____. My friends call me Panda. Are you Mr. Grillby?”

His smile grew yet wider, and he returned your gesture. His hand was very warm, almost uncomfortably so, yet it was still soothing. 

“... Yes,” he began, his voice reminding you of the gentle roar of a campfire on a summer night. “I’m Grillby. It is nice to meet you... I’ve heard much of what you’ve done for the monster community.”

You blushed. You knew that he knew already, but it was still flattering to be confronted about it. “Oh, yeah, well… I mean, any decent person would have done the same thing, it was no big deal, really!” you said as you nervously scratched the back of your head with your free hand.

He finally let your other hand go. “So for what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Well, actually… The establishment that I worked for was in on my house being demolished. The owner, to be exact.” You cringed. “And, well, they don’t exactly want me working for them anymore. I was wondering if you were hiring?” 

“Hm… I’m not actively hiring…” You visibly deflated. “However, I suppose an extra hand around the bar would be nice, especially during the lunch rush.” You immediately perked back up. “Why don’t you come on inside for an interview?”

“Yes! Please! Thank you so much Mr. Grillby, you have no idea how much this means to me!”

After he led you inside and conducted a relatively short interview, he decided that you would be perfect for the job and asked if you could start training today. You happily obliged and began your new work life with the fire elemental, and on your break, you sent a text to all of your friends letting them know of the good news. All of them promised to visit.

As you settled in to sleep on the couch that night, you couldn’t help but think about how quickly your life has changed in the last couple of months. It was… Good. For the first time, even though you were sleeping on someone else’s couch, you felt happy and content with where you were in life.

You hoped you could get used to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> real talk for a sec here. this chapter would've come out yesterday but i just couldn't think of a good chapter name. (still not satisfied with the ch name)  
> cause yanno.  
> i've, for some reason, taken it upon myself to name every chapter either after a song, or if the song name is TOO direct, the band of the song.  
> (most likely the band's most popular song)  
> idk if any of you have caught on to that yet but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> i'm in too deep and i can't back out now. gotta be creative with every chapter name.
> 
> basically what i'm saying is you should recommend new songs for me in the comments  
> (p.s. sorry to any joshes reading this. i've never gotten along with a josh and it made for a perfect villain name)
> 
> come yell at me over at [my tumblr](https://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com)


	9. Ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> of the Mystery Skulls variant.
> 
> Anyway, as promised, here's chapter 9. I just finished it a couple of minutes ago (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶
> 
> Enjoy!

Now that you worked at Grillby’s and had a bit of a reputation as a hero in the monster community, meeting new people and making new friends was becoming a regular occurrence for you.

A couple of days after your apartment had been torn to shreds and you had moved in with Sans and Papyrus, you had made a new friend named Mettaton. He had been created by Alphys and had made quite a name for himself as he made sure you know. Meeting him was… Interesting, to say the least.

It had been almost a week since you started working for Grillby and you had just gotten home. You were relaxing with Sans and the cats when the front door was flung open. Not that that was necessarily rare, what with living with Papyrus and him having Undyne as a best friend, but it still managed to shock you.

In strutted a metallic man colored with fuchsias and blacks and silvers. The word that immediately came to mind was “glamorous”, and when you told him this later, he told you that that is the correct reaction.

Papyrus was following behind him, looking ecstatic to have his idol in his home.

Once he was inside, he glanced around the apartment, seemingly judging how it looked. Once his visible eye landed on you, he broke out into a wolfish grin and stepped over the loveseat without batting an eye. He scooped you up and took off, shooting “I’m borrowing this,” to Sans over his shoulder as he made his way out of the apartment.

You were too shocked to make any noise of protest as he began to make his way down to his limo, Papyrus following just behind him. Though you didn’t know this robot, seeing him with Papyrus put you at ease with his presence.

As he set you into the gaudy luxury car, you finally decided to speak up. “Um…” You raised your hand in a question, “Where exactly are we going? And who are you?”

Mettaton stopped for a moment, looking somewhat like you had deeply offended him. “Why, darling, PLEASE don’t tell me that you’ve never seen my work before!”

You shook your head dramatically, in mock sorrow. Mettaton didn’t pick up on the fact that you were teasing him and went along with it.

He climbed into the car behind you before laying dramatically on the seat, one leg in the air, back of his hand to his forehead. “How awful! It is simply inconceivable that someone has not heard of me yet! My dear, that will simply NOT do! But, luckily for you,” he quickly sat up and opened his chest to reveal a compartment from which he withdrew a couple of magazines and DVD cases, “I just so happen to have some copies of my best work on hand at all times! Please, study up on these when we get you back home. It's always nice to meet a new fan!”

As you looked at one of the DVD cases he handed you, it clicked. “Oh! I thought this looked familiar!” You looked to Papyrus as he finally began to settle into the car next to you. “Some of these are on your bookshelves at home!”

Papyrus nodded eagerly. “INDEED THEY ARE! I AM, AFTER ALL, ONE OF METTATON’S BIGGEST FANS!”

“Oh, but of course you are!” Mettaton chimed in. He tapped on the partition to get the attention of the driver to whisper a location to her before rolling it back up.

“So, uh…” you began, “My other question was never answered. Where are we going?”

“Ah, yes!” Mettaton piped up. “After I had heard about what happened to you after doing such a kindness for us monsters, I knew that I simply HAD to pay you back somehow! I believe Sans may have mentioned it?” You nodded. “Good! That is what we are doing. I’m going to get you a brand new wardrobe!” he finished with a flourish of his arms, gesturing to the high-end boutique that you had just pulled up to. 

~

You weren’t necessarily against girly things, they could be cute on you once in awhile, but what you WERE against was someone spending so much money on you. On the third outfit he was having you model, you couldn’t keep your complaints to yourself anymore.

“Turn around one more time for me, darling!” Mettaton coached.

You obliged with a sigh, and then said “Mettaton, please don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate this but I’d feel bad! This is too much, you shouldn’t spend this much on-”

“Hush, darling!” Mettaton interrupted. “You are worth every penny!”

You could feel the heat rising to your face at his words, and he suddenly looked very accomplished.

Papyrus was running back and forth almost constantly, bringing new outfits for you to try and Mettaton was in charge of either vetoing what he brought or telling him to bring “At LEAST 20 more exactly like this!”

You sighed again. It’s probably going to be awhile before you can get back to relaxing.

 

~*~

 

It took some convincing, but you finally got him to relent and only get one of each outfit that he had liked the most. It was quite surprising about how much Mettaton was able to read your personality and pick out clothing that actually suited you. You were glad that he didn’t go over the top. Not without his trying, however, you just quickly shot down any attempts at something more red-carpet worthy.

Mettaton had ended up dragging you from store to store and by the end of the day, you had needed Papyrus’ help to bring up all of the bags to the apartment. Mettaton supervised. Sans nor the cats had so much as moved from their comfortable positions on the couch, still watching T.V. 

“NOW THAT OUR SHOPPING TRIP IS OUT OF THE WAY,” Papyrus hastily threw the bags into the corner of the room as he spoke, directing his attention to you, “YOU AND METTATON MUST NOW BECOME PROPER FRIENDS! PLEASE, LET ME MAKE US A FEAST WHILE YOU TWO BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED!” He didn’t wait for an answer as he dashed to the kitchen to begin what you assumed was some friendship farfalle.

“Yes, Papyrus, what a wonderful idea! I must get to know more about our local hero here!” Mettaton quickly said, pulling a microphone out of what seemed to be thin air. “Please, darling, tell us all about you! What should we know?”

“I… Um…” With the attention suddenly on you, you immediately became shy and unsure as to what you should say. “I wouldn’t say I’m a _hero_ , I was just doing what anyone would do. I happened to be in the right place at the right time to overhear them and make sure something got done about it.”

Mettaton sighed dramatically. “So modest! But it’s true, my dear, the people do want to know more about you!”

You gave him a skeptical look. “What do you _want_ to know?”

“Everything!” He said, spreading his arms out in a flourish. “How old are you? What is your astrological sign? What about your blood type? Are you interested in anyone? What about your family, where are they? Do they know that you’re a hero?”

Your eyes widened at the sudden flurry of questions as Mettaton looked at you expectantly.

“I, uh…” You looked at Sans for help and he just shrugged. With a sigh, you figured that there was no polite way to get out of the questions. “22, Scorpio, don’t know, no, far away from here, and no.”

You knew that he wasn’t going to drop the issue when his face dropped at your response.

“Excuse my prying, dear, but what is your connection with your family? Do you not have any siblings?” You tensed, and could see Sans raise an eyebrow at you from the corner of your eye. “Or cousins? I have a cousin, you know. They’re quite adorable, I think you two would get along.”

“Ah… Hah. Nope, sorry. I’m an only child and don’t really get along with my parents. I should, uh, see if Papyrus needs any help.”

It was good to get away from Mettaton’s scrutinizing look, though when you got into the kitchen, the only way to get Papyrus to let you help was to have it be a cooking lesson for you.

After everyone ate, (aside from Mettaton,) said robot had to take his leave. You liked him well enough, but being around him and his high energy for too long was definitely a bit draining. It was probably just something to get used to like you had with Papyrus.

With a promise to visit again soon, he vanished just as quickly as he had appeared.

You and the boys finally had some time to relax, and you all settled in on the couch to play some Smash Bros. After you and Papyrus lost against Sans, even with the two of you teaming up, he finally resigned with a sigh. “WELL THEN! I THINK I’LL NEED TO BE GETTING TO BED NOW! BROTHER, COULD YOU PLEASE COME AND READ A STORY?”

“yeah, no prob bro. i’ll be right in.”

Papyrus raced off, probably to choose his favorite story to be read while Sans sauntered after him.

As you waited for Sans’ return, you steeled yourself. You knew he was going to start pestering you about your earlier conversation with Mettaton.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the room again, he sat next to you and fiddled his thumbs.

You sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“just why it is that you don’t like talking about your family and why you got all weird when metts asked you about siblings. are you really an only child?”

“Nope.”

“... not gonna elaborate on that?”

“You want my whole life story or something?”

“no, just want to know a bit more about you.”

“Hm… Okay, then let’s trade. Whenever you ask me a question, I’ll answer as best as I can and then ask you one. You can go first.”

“okay. how many siblings do you have?”

You hummed. “That’s kind of a trick question.”

He gave you a somewhat bewildered look. “how so?”

“How much do you know about human marriage?” 

“well, it’s not unlike monster marriage, but monster marriage is… more permanent and loyal than some human marriages can be.” You nodded in understanding. “why?”

“Well, my dad WAS married to a woman that wasn’t my mother. He had children with her. Six, to be exact. Then he cheated on her with my mom, thus having my only full biological sibling and I.” Sans’ eye sockets widened. “I think there was also talk of him doing it again, and I have a 7th half sibling out there somewhere, but I’m not sure.”

“that’s, uh… that’s something.” he said. “i can see why you didn’t want to elaborate earlier.”

You nodded. “Okay, now it’s my turn to ask. Do you have any family aside from Papyrus?”

He shook his head. “not really, no. had a dad, not sure what happened to ‘im. just been me and paps since we were babybones.”

“I’m sorry to hear that…” You said, a solemn expression on your face. He just shrugged.

“s’not a big deal. so, i can kinda get why the complicated situation would make you not want to talk about it, but is that really the only reason you say you don’t have any siblings?”

“No, I… It’s a long story.” He stared at you, waiting for you to elaborate. “... Well. Let me know if you get lost.” He nodded. 

“With my half siblings, the kids from my dad’s marriage, they all hated my mom since she was the reason our dad cheated on their mom. That hate was somewhat… Almost indirectly put on me, as well. They weren’t outright cruel, but they would treat me with a cold kind of politeness one would a stranger, not a sibling. It was much more apparent when they were around each other since they all shared the same parents. It made me the odd one out. Plus they never really wanted me around, never invited me to family gatherings and such. I just took the hint and stopped contacting them. I’m sure they were happier for it.”

“As for my biological sibling, my brother, he… Growing up was hard enough as it was. He just managed to make a shitty situation much worse. He’s five years my senior and was a bully in every sense of the word. Fist fights weren’t uncommon for us,” you chuckled darkly. “But when he hit puberty, it got worse. Since he grew faster, his strength greatly outmatched mine. I… He would...” You stopped, and you noticed your hands were shaking. 

Sans reached out and grabbed hold of you and pulled you to him, gently tracing patterns into your back to soothe you. “hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to keep talking about it. i understand now.”

You sighed and nodded, leaning into him and using his shoulder a bit like a pillow.

“I… I’ve always secretly hoped that maybe there is another half sibling out there. They would be younger than me, and maybe I could finally have a chance to have a normal relationship with someone in my family.” You tittered, though not grimly, and continued. “To be honest, I’ve always been kinda jealous of you and Papyrus. You two get along so great, and I’ve just never had that. I love the relationship the two of you have.”

Sans gave a soft laugh as well. “it’s like i said, it’s always just been the two of us. we kinda _had_ to get along. though paps is great, it’s impossible to not get along with him.” You nodded in agreement.

You were glad when Sans changed the subject.

“so, uh, did you guys get enough clothes?” he gestured to the pile of bags still in the corner. 

You sat up and said. “What else would I have done?” You got up and walked over to one of the bags and pulled out a belt. “I mean, I guess I could’ve just made a belt out of cardboard.” You turned to look Sans right in the eye. “But I felt that that would be a _waist of paper._

Sans stared blankly at you for a second before he broke out laughing.

You kept digging in the bags. “Aw, I can’t find my coat. I hope someone didn’t _jacket._ ”

Sans laughed even harder. The noise must’ve woken Papyrus because he stuck his head out of his door to see what the ruckus was about.

You moved to another bag and pulled out a box. “Oh, man, let me tell you. That Mettaton sure is a smooth talker.” You opened the box and showed Sans what was inside. “I didn’t want to buy leather shoes, but eventually, I was _suede._ ”

Sans nearly fell on the floor with laughter and you could see Papyrus’ face scrunch up in disgust.

Sans was still laughing when he attempted his joke, barely managing it out between gasps. “a joke… about shoes? i don’t know... what you’re on _a boot!_ ” You and Sans fell into a fresh fit of giggles as you went back to join him on the couch.

Papyrus let out a small, barely audible shriek at the pun and you could hear him muttering something about getting up for nothing.

After you two finally calmed down, you settled into the couch and fell into a comfortable silence. 

“So, hey,” you began, “Do you like sci-fi movies?” Sans nodded, his interest piqued. “Great! Let me show you one of my favorites.” You opened Netflix and started up ‘The Fifth Element’ and nestled into Sans’ side. He seemed a bit surprised at first but put his arm around you as you both began to get engrossed in the movie.

You don’t remember when he wrapped his arms around you, but it was nice. Neither of you complained as you both drifted to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk man, mystery skulls makes me think of mettaton. specifically 'magic' but naming a chapter magic that isn't magic filled would be absurd
> 
> anyway, like i said, i JUST finished this chapter and posted it as soon as it was done b/c i felt bad about the last chapter being so short.  
> that means that i haven't even gotten a chance to start on chapter 10 yet, so it's going to be some time before i can release it.  
> hopefully it'll be out before the end of the week, but no promises. 
> 
> come yell at me over at [my tumblr](https://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com) and recommend some more songs to me either there or in the comments  
> (ゝ◡╹)ノ♡


	10. Shake it Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha heey I'm finally back with a new chapter
> 
> edit 7/24: checked out the chapter after posting it at work and realized formatting was weird, sorry! should be fixed now

It had been slowly coming back to you, being kidnapped. Slowly, in pieces, and then all at once.

You sat up quickly from your position on the couch, gasping, a hand clutched to your chest in a panic. You still didn’t want to deal with this.

It was almost too much to handle all at once. The feeling of being disoriented, being trapped, tied, touched, it made you feel physically ill. It made you think of yet more things you just didn’t want to be reminded about.

You took a few more deep breaths to try to steady yourself, but it wasn’t working. You looked to the hallway. Sans always said that he would be there if you needed anything, right? He’s… Sans is safe. You can go to Sans.

You get up on shaky legs and begin to make your way to Sans’ bedroom while using your free hand to steady yourself. 

Upon opening the door to his room, you see that despite the late hour, he’s also awake. He’s sitting up and hunched over, eye sockets hollow. He also must’ve been dealing with things he didn’t want to deal with. You knew he had nightmares sometimes, and you two had a mutual unspoken agreement to always help each other when one is upset like this.

You slowly begin to make your way over to him and softly call his name as to not startle him. Your soft approach doesn’t work, as he still whips his head to look at you, eyes snapping to attention, and it looks as if he’s sweating slightly. 

After staring at you for a moment, it seems to register who it is that he’s staring at and he visibly relaxes.

“you’re having trouble sleepin’ too, huh?” You nod, and he sighs before patting the empty space of the bed next to him. You slowly make your way over to him and join him on the bed and he wraps an arm around your shoulder.

“so what’s up with you?”

You let out a shuddering sigh, barely keeping back tears. “I, uh… I’ve remembered that night… From a few weeks ago. Fully, I mean.” Sans began to slowly stroke your back to calm you as you began to cry silently.

After a moment of sitting quietly as Sans soothes you, he speaks up. 

“do you want to go on a walk with me?” You nod, unable to find your voice.

He hoists himself up with a grunt and slips on his jacket. He then makes his way over to your half of his dresser where he’s been letting you store your clothes while you lived with them. He pulls out a hooded wool cape and quickly slipped it over your head before gesturing for you to follow him.

You slip on a pair of boots before hurrying to catch up, and as you make your way outside, he shuts and locks the door before offering his arm to you. You quickly take the invitation and loop your arm with his before beginning your slow walk.

After making it to a park, you finally begin to talk.

“So… Do you go on walks often?”

“yeah. they help me _chill_ out,” he says as he brushes some frost off of a park bench for the two of you to share. He then plops down with a sigh and you quickly join him.

“If it’s not too invasive, can I ask why it is you feel you need to go for walks?”

He ponders your question for a moment before tilting his head to look up at the stars. You follow his gaze and see that here, on the outskirts of town, the light pollution isn’t too bad and you have a somewhat clear view of the milky way.

“for this,” he starts. You shift to face him, waiting for him to elaborate. “seeing the stars… it makes me feel better. after living underground my whole life, it never fails to amaze me and remind me that all of this is real.”

“Is… Is that what your nightmares are? Being back underground?”

He stiffens for a moment and you know you must’ve hit the nail on the head. He then shrugs and looks at you. “somethin’ like that.”

“Do you want to talk about it at all?”

“it’s…” he hums in thought. “kinda complicated.” 

You raised an eyebrow at him. “If anyone knows complicated, it’s me.”

He chuckled. “yeah, i guess you’re right. i just don’t think you’ll even believe me. hell, it happened to me and i still don’t really believe it.”

You nod solemnly. “I understand that feeling. I won’t force you to talk, but please know that I’m here if you ever feel like you can talk, okay?”

Sans visibly relaxed and pulled you into a hug.

“thanks. for, uh, not making me talk.”

You smiled and hugged him back. “Of course. You can talk when you’re ready. And Sans?”

“yeah?”

“Thanks for being my friend.”

 

~*~

 

Work had finally started to slow down after the initial lunch rush when you got a text from Sans.

 **Sand:** hey is work super busy right now?

 **You:** Nah, not really, what’s up?

 **Sand:** i wanna bring by a pal for you to meet

 **You:** Hey that sounds great! I’d love to meet them

 **Sand:** ok cool we’ll be there in a bit

 **Sand:** i gotta warn you tho

 **Sand:** they’re a bit

 **Sand:** frisky

That’s… Gotta be a joke that you would only understand if you knew who Sans was talking about. You rolled your eyes (and sent a snarky emoji back to Sans) before pocketing your phone to get back to work.

It wasn’t too long after your conversation had ended before Sans showed up. He lazily waved at you before stepping aside to reveal a human child. They seemed scrawny, and you couldn’t get much of a read on how old they were.

“panda, this is my little buddy frisk.”

You snapped your fingers. “Oh! I get your joke now!” Sans chuckled and you turned to the child, holding your hand out. “Hey, kiddo! Nice to meet you! I’m ____ but everyone’s taken to calling me Panda. Also, I’m super curious, so is it okay if I ask how old you are?”

Frisk smiled and quickly took your one hand in both of theirs. “Nice to meet you, Panda! I’m 13, by the way.”

After a moment, it sunk in and you began to look at them at awe, beginning to shake their hand more vigorously. 

“Oh, my god! Frisk, as in the Frisk who saved everybody from the Underground? The Frisk who is the ambassador of monsters?” They nodded, smile growing wider. “Wow! Hey, I’m super stoked to meet you. You did an amazing thing, helping everybody how you have. Oh, uh,” you realized you were still holding their hands as you rambled and quickly let go. “Sorry. Huge fan of your work.” You smiled when your joke got them to let out a small giggle.

“So! Anyway! We shouldn’t just stand here, why don’t you guys sit at the bar? Are you hungry, Frisk?” They nodded. “Perfect! What can I get for you?”

“just a double order of burg for us.” Sans said.

After delivering their food, you and your new friend chatted aimlessly for the next hour or so as they ate.

“So, Frisk, tell me about yourself! What should I know about the great ambassador of monsters?”

They beamed at you. “Well, I love video games and I heard that you do, too, so we’ll have to play together sometime!” You agreed eagerly. “And my mom is the one who made that blanket for you. I helped a little bit, but it was mostly her.”

You perked up at that. “Oh! Your mom is Toriel? That’s awesome! She must be really nice, I haven’t had a chance to meet her just yet though. We should change that sometime!” You turned to Sans. “Can we have Frisk and Toriel over for dinner sometime?”

He just shrugged. “you don’t have to ask me, it’s your house, too.” You smiled warmly at him. He had always been so welcoming of you staying with him and his brother that you couldn’t help but wonder what you did to get so lucky in the friend department. 

They had both been more welcoming than any of your family had ever been and it was somewhat of a culture shock to you.

“Hey, that would be awesome!” Frisk piped up. “I’m sure mom and dad would love to meet you!”

You tilted your head in confusion. “Your dad? I don’t think we spoke of…” You blanched.

Frisk. Ambassador Frisk. Child of the King and former Queen of the Underground. Duh, you idiot. You’ve seen the news stories. You should’ve realized!

“Right. Your dad, King Asgore, right?” They nodded eagerly. “That’s, uh… I’m gonna meet the king?” 

Sans chuckled. “hey, don’t worry about ol’ asgore. he’s a big softie. you two will get along just fine.”

Right. Okay. Meeting the KING of the Underground. Of all Monsters. No sweat. You can do that, just fine!

“So,” Frisk began. “When can we come over?”

 

~*~

 

Turns out that Undyne and Alphys were a week away from moving into their new place, meaning that you were a week away from moving out of the bone brother’s house.

Meaning that Asgore and Toriel would have to come over to Sans and Papyrus’ house before you left.

Meaning that they decided on coming over two days after you met Frisk.

You weren’t nervous, no. Of course not! You loved habitually deep cleaning the entire apartment. Totally a normal thing that you did on a regular basis.

Though even Papyrus expressed his concern for you when you had done nothing but clean in your spare time, saying ‘YOU PUT EVEN MY STANDARDS OF CLEANLINESS TO SHAME, PANDA!’ but you were just too anxious to do anything else.

Finally the day arrived that Toriel and Asgore would be coming over and you couldn’t keep still. You spent almost the entire day cooking and making sure everything was perfect, despite Papyrus and Sans constantly reassuring you that you needn’t be so nervous.

You couldn’t help it! You’re good at being nervous.

It made you vaguely think back to your childhood, around Thanksgivings, when everyone was busy all day and you ended up having dinner way too early.

Despite the knock at the door being gentle, it still made you jump in surprise. You immediately start scurrying around and making sure that everything in the house was immaculate. Everything had to be perfect!

Sans stopped your scurrying with a hand on your hip and looked you in the eye. “panda. seriously, you’ll be fine. i promise.”

You held his gaze for a moment before slowly nodding, trying to let the words sink in.

With Sans holding you steady, Papyrus made his way over to the door and let in your guests. 

The first thing you noticed was just how _tall_ they were. Even Papyrus was dwarfed next to the bearded goat-like monster who had to duck to not hit the ceiling.

“SMALL HUMAN! ASGORE! TORIEL! IT’S GREAT TO SEE ALL OF YOU AGAIN!” Papyrus said as he scooped up Frisk into a hug. Frisk let out a little squeak and giggled at Papyrus’ eager attitude.

The beard-lacking goat monster made her way over to you first and held out a paw (Shouldn’t it be a hoof?) before introducing herself. You took her paw to shake it and you had a feeling of not really wanting to let go.

Her voice was soft and comforting, and very obviously motherly. It immediately put you at ease and made you believe that you could trust her.

“Hello, dear. My name is Toriel, I am Frisk’s mother. It is a pleasure to meet you!” She withdrew her paw from you, much to your dismay, only to put it on Frisk’s head to start ruffling their hair. “Frisk here hasn’t stopped talking about you since they met you! And I’m glad to see that my gift is going to good use,” she said as she glanced to the couch that was your makeshift bed.

“O-oh, yeah!” You stammered out. “I love that blanket! Thank you so much again for it, it’s super comfortable and really warm. Oh, uh, and I’m ____. But everyone calls me Panda.”

The second goat monster made his way over and also began to introduce himself. “It’s nice to meet you, Panda. I have heard good things about you from our mutual friends. I am Asgore.”

You stiffened, your sudden nervousness from earlier back now that Sans had left your side to make his way into the kitchen.

“I-it’s nice to meet you too, uh, Your Sir… Majesty. Sir.” You mentally facepalmed. What a great first impression.

Asgore chuckled. “Please, young one, there is no need for such formalities. You may simply call me Asgore. Oh!” Sans had walked up to Asgore with a cup of tea and was offering it to him. “Golden flower tea! Why, thank you Sans, how very kind of you to remember my favorite.”

Sans merely shrugged.

The rest of the visit went by quite uneventfully, Asgore and Toriel’s kind and gentle nature eventually putting you at ease with the both of them, at least enough to stop your nervous stammering.

Toriel had complimented your cooking, making you blush furiously, and said that the two of you should cook together sometime. You agreed that it would be a wonderful idea. You and Frisk had spent quite a bit of time after dinner playing games with Papyrus and Sans while Toriel and Asgore watched, the both of them saying that they would not be able to understand enough to play properly.

The night eventually wound down and you and the boys relaxed on the couch after seeing Asgore, Toriel and Frisk off. You savored the time with the bone brothers, because you knew in just a couple of days that you wouldn’t have these quiet, comfortable moments alone with them anymore. 

And eventually that day came.

It was kind of bittersweet, because now you would have your own room and whatnot and it would be nice to have a place to actually put your clothes, but you’d miss the constant company of either Sans or Papyrus. Not that Undyne, Alphys and Amari wouldn’t keep you company, you had just grown very close with the brothers.

There wasn’t much for you to take over to Alphys and Undyne’s house, just your clothes and Fiera, who you hated to separate from her new best friend Canela.

Sans and Papyrus had refused to let you pay them at all while you lived with them, and you were able to use the money you saved up to buy yourself some new furniture. 

Though you loved living with the brothers, sleeping on a couch was a bit odd. Moving in with Alphys and Undyne and having your own room, your life was finally starting to have a sense of stability again. That, and they actually let you help with bills. You appreciate that because now you wouldn’t feel like you were mooching off of them

Things had finally began to fall into a pattern. Go to work, come home, hang out with Alphys and Undyne and Amari, the brothers and Frisk were visiting almost all the time… Overall, it was really nice, and made you truly feel as if you belonged.

A couple of weeks had passed since you had moved in with the couple and Amari. You were working a shift at Grillby’s when a vaguely familiar face came through the doors. You were trying to think of where you recognized him from when he spotted you, immediately perking up.

“Hey! ____! It’s good to see you!”

You looked at him in confusion for a moment before it finally registered.

“Oh! Adam! It’s good to see you!” You moved from behind the counter to give him a brief hug. “I never got a chance to properly thank you for standing up for me at the diner. There was… A lot going on. Are you hungry or anything? It’s on me!”

His face brightened. “Hey, don’t sweat it! And are you sure? I don’t mind paying.”

“Yes, I’m positive, let me thank you somehow.”

He laughed. “I mean, sure, if you insist.”

You two idly chatted for a moment while his food was being prepared.

“So, Adam, what have you been up to lately?”

“Well, uh, they didn’t exactly take too kindly to me standing up for you, so they fired me, too, just after you left. But it wouldn’t have mattered. Now that Josh is in jail, and the only two managers were in on them messing up your place, the diner kinda… Went under.”

You scoffed. “Good riddance.”

He nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

“So what brings you to Grillby’s?”

He chuckled nervously and began to scratch the back of his head and diverting his gaze to his food. And he… Was he blushing? “Well, I had meant to ask you before you left, but then I never really got the chance to. I didn’t have your number, either, so I couldn’t ask you that way... “ He trailed off, looking a bit sheepish.

“Adam, what’s wrong?”

He seemed to steel himself before looking up from the table and directly at you.

“____, do you want to go on a date sometime?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just finished this one while at work, and figured I would post it super quick. Please let me know if you see any errors as I didn't really have the proper time to go over everything.
> 
> I will let you all know that the days I spent not really writing were spent outlining how I want the story to go, so that's exciting. I have a good idea on the next couple of chapters and then how I'm going to end it, but that still won't be for awhile.
> 
> As always, please feel free to leave comments, please recommend new music to me, and come bug me over at my tumblr.
> 
> illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com


	11. Gymnopedie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, uh, I kinda made a playlist on youtube of all of the songs that the chapter names are based on. 
> 
> You can check it out [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8EzzLdb9szgz9m3WQVcmn_AulcCRc4OZ)
> 
> It's mostly a joke (b/c i'm a joke and take nothing seriously) but it'll also help with defining what songs exactly I'm referring to in the chapter name so that there's no future confusion.

Sans was annoyed.

Why did everyone keep asking him if he were jealous? He didn’t even understand the context. Whenever he would ask what someone meant, they would change the subject.

Sans was “grocery” shopping and minding his own business when a “Hey, Sans!” was his only warning before he was put into a headlock by a scaly blue arm.

“heh. hey, undyne.” Sans popped a couple of inches away from her to get away from the impending noogie.

Undyne seemed slightly annoyed that Sans cheated to get away, but quickly regained her composure. “Boy, I’m glad I ran into you. Now that we’re all settled into the new place and finally have all of our furniture, we’re gonna have a long-overdue housewarming party! You and Paps are invited, of course. It’s tomorrow night, think you can make it?”

“yeah, sure, don’t see why not,” Sans replied with a shrug.

Undyne whooped and fist pumped, almost dumping all of the contents of her shopping basket in the process.

“So! I’m getting some stuff for the party right now,” She gestured to her basket with her free hand. “But it is a BYOB party, so if you want anything you should do that while you’re here… Uh… “ Her eye landed on Sans’ shopping basket, filled almost to the brim with ketchup bottles. “Unless you’ve already got whatever drinks you want.”

“yeah, i think i’m good. i’ll let pap know, though.”

Undyne seemed to remember something before a devilish grin spread across her face. “So, Sans, have you heard?”

Sans sighed. “if you’re gonna ask me if i’m jealous, the answer is ‘no’ because i have no idea what i’m supposed to be jealous of. no one will tell me.”

She seemed taken aback by that statement. “You really mean no one has told you yet?”

Sans groaned. “told me _what_ , undyne?”

“Oh. Well, uh, none of my business. You’ll meet _him_ at the party, anyway.” She practically skipped away while laughing.

“ _him_ who?” Sans yelled after her. She ignored him, continuing to cackle until he couldn’t see her anymore.

Sans moaned. Undyne’s stupid comment only made things even _more_ confusing. 

Sans trudged home in a much more foul mood than he was already in. He was already out of it since it had been a week or so since he had spoken with you. You having moved out was already bumming him out, but now it seemed that you two hadn’t been able to find much time for each other lately. He felt a bit _bonely._ Heh. He’d have to tell you that one.

Sighing, he pulled out his phone. Maybe you would know what the hell everyone was talking about?

~*~

You were at work, helping Grillby prepare to open the bar when you felt your phone vibrate in your back pocket. Excusing yourself, you went into the back to check your phone.

 **spoopy:** why does everyone keep asking me if i’m jealous? are you in on it too?

 **You:** No, what? I have no idea. What’s that supposed to mean?

 **spoopy:** hell if i know. i was hoping someone had mentioned it to you because people have been asking me for like a week but no one will explain it

 **You:** That’s… Weird. But hey, I have to get back to work, why don’t you come get some lunch and we can talk? I’ve been feeling a bit BONELY lately without one of my favorite skelefriends to hang with.

 **spoopy:** shit

 **spoopy:** goddamnit

 **spoopy:** i was gonna use that one on you

 **spoopy:** you’ve bested me at my own craft

You suppressed a snicker with the back of your hand.

 **You:** Redeem yourself then. Come to Grillby’s!

 **spoopy:** i mean i GUESS i can come hang. totally throwing a monkey wrench in my plans for laying on the couch all day but i guess i can make some adjustments. be there in a few

By “a few”, you knew he probably meant…

You heard a soft ‘pop’ (which you’ve learned from Sans is air being rapidly displaced as he teleports) behind you. When you turn around, Sans is lying very exaggeratedly on the counter and wiggling his brow-bones at you.

“so, you come here often?”

You burst into laughter before shooing him off of the counter. “You dope, I just got done cleaning that!”

He gave a soft chuckle before hopping down. You quickly scooped him up in a hug and squeezed tightly, and he quickly returned the gesture.

“God, it feels like forever since we’ve been able to hang out." You released Sans and stepped back to look at him. "I feel awful, but I’ve just been so tied up with other things lately.”

“hey, don’t sweat it,” Sans replied, waving his hand dismissively. “i totally understand. we’ve all got our own things going on.”

“But I missed you!” You whined. “Seriously, though, I need to make it a point of hanging out with you more. You're coming to the housewarming party tomorrow, right?” Sans nodded and you shimmied around him to keep setting up. Sans lazily waved at Grillby who was watching the two of you in mild amusement. “Good. Oh yeah!" You snapped your fingers in sudden realization. "My renter’s insurance was able to cover some of the stuff those jerks messed up, so I was able to get back some of my old favorite video games. I’ll have to bring some over to play with you sometime!”

“hey, i’m glad you were able to get some stuff back,” Sans said, plopping down onto one of the barstools to stay out of the way. “you wanna come over tonight? pap’s goin’ out with mettaton so it’ll just be me and canela at home. canela’s great and all, but not much for conversation. plus she sucks at video games.”

You giggled. “I would kinda hope she would be. It would be weird for a cat to be good at video games.”

“hey, burgerpants is pretty good at video games. in fact, i’m pretty sure that’s all he does in his spare time.”

You stopped what you were doing and looked up at Sans with a puzzled look on your face.

“... Burgerpants? That’s… That can’t be someone’s actual name, right?”

“yes and yes. sorta. everyone started callin’ him that and he stopped bothering to correct people. i forgot you haven’t met him. that kinda ruins the joke… he’s a cat-like monster.”

“... Right. Of course there are cat monsters. That was rude of me to assume that there wouldn’t be.” 

You and Sans continued to talk as you finished up the last bit of preparation for opening. With a thumbs up to Grillby, he flipped the switch on the ‘Open’ sign and unlocked the doors.

You went into the back to begin making some lunch for Sans. When you came back out, you noticed that Adam was standing just outside the front door. He hadn’t noticed you, but he was staring at Sans with a strange intensity. You couldn’t read what his face conveyed.

You moved next to Sans and began waving at Adam, trying to get his attention. Upon you catching his eye, he seemed to snap out of his stupor. He waved back and gave his biggest grin as he made his way into the establishment.

Sans turned to see who you were waving at. “Hey, Adam!” You called out. “Nice to see you here! Come, sit down and meet my best friend Sans!”

Adam quickly made his way over and took a seat next to Sans, but you noticed right away that he was a bit fidgety. 

“Adam, what’s wrong?” You asked, tilting your head slightly to the side.

“N-Nothing!” He said, snapping his gaze up from the counter to meet your eyes, and then stole a side glance at Sans. “It’s just, uh… I’ve… Never actually met a monster before?”

Your eyes widened and you puffed a slight laugh. “Really? You can’t be serious!”

“Well, sure I’ve seen them on the streets and such…” Adam retorted, his gaze going back to the counter. “I’ve just, uh… Never talked to one. I don’t know how to.”

“well, i mean, i’m sitting right here,” Sans grumped. “it’s rude to talk about someone who’s listening.”

You tittered slightly, watching the exchange. You knew Sans was mostly just messing with Adam, but you knew that he was right.

Adam winced at the words and glanced up at Sans. “Sorry, you’re right, that _is_ rude of me. I apologize.”

“‘s no big deal.” Sans held out his hand. “the name’s sans. sans the skeleton. i’m panda’s best friend. nice to meetcha.”

Adam quickly took Sans’ hand. “Sorry for, uh, being weird. Not every day you see a walking, talking skeleton. It kinda threw me off. It’s nice to meet you, Sans. I’m Adam, and I’m, uh… Well, we’ve been on a couple of dates, so I guess I’m ____’s boyfriend?”

You were too busy rolling your eyes to notice Sans twitch at the information. He quickly released Adam’s hand.

 _’ah,’_ Sans thought. _’this must be what everyone was talking about.’_

“Whoa there, bucko,” you interjected. “It’s like you said, we’ve only been on a _couple_ of dates. I dunno if that’d be boyfriend worthy just yet.”

Adam chuckled and put his forearms on the counter, leaning towards you.

“Oh, please,” he drawled. “You know you can’t resist my charm.”

You scoffed. “Whatever you say, buddy.”

~*~

Sans knew immediately that he didn’t like the guy.

Not just that he was so uncomfortable around monsters, and not just that he seemed kinda… Sleazy towards you…

Sans looked on with disdain as he shamelessly flirted with you. Sure, Sans kinda did that with you too, but that was just a joke between friends.

… Right?

Sans shook his head. Of course it was.

He wasn’t jealous, that’s for sure, but there was just something about the guy that rubbed Sans the wrong way.

He just couldn’t figure out what exactly it was.

Sans continued to glare a hole in the side of Adam’s head as the two of you chatted. He was probably the reason why the two of you hadn’t been speaking lately.

After a moment, your face scrunched up in confusion and you put your hand up to put a halt on the conversation. You pulled your phone out of your back pocket, which was ringing and vibrating quietly at you.

Upon looking at the screen to see who was calling, your eyes widened and you paled slightly.

“H-Hey, Grillby!” You called out. “Can you take over for a sec? This call is kinda… I just… I need to take this. I’m sorry.”

Sans could see your hands shaking ever so slightly. He was about to ask what was going on when you rushed into the back area, presumably to step out back to take the call.

Adam seemed indifferent and merely shrugged at you running off. 

That just pissed Sans off even more.

If he was trying so badly to be your boyfriend, wouldn’t he try to show a bit more concern?

“so, uh, adam.” Sans tried to start up a conversation. “how did you and panda meet?”

Adam seemed surprised that Sans was talking to him but quickly regained his composure.

“Oh, I met ____ at that old place she worked, with the shitty manager. I stopped everyone from bearing down on her when she went into work after everything went down. We were coworkers.”

That was yet another thing that bothered him. _Everyone_ called you Panda, not by your real name. Even Grillby, your employer. The nickname was more your real name at this point.

“heard that place got shut down. what do you do for a living now?”

If this weirdo wanted to date his best friend, you bet your ass he was gonna interrogate the shit outta him first. He was already on Sans’ bad side and it’ll take a lot to get back into a positive view.

“I guess I’m still kinda… In-between jobs right now. ____ got lucky with this gig, a lot of us that worked at that diner are still kinda jobless. But my… Parents pay for my apartment, so I’m good ‘til I can find a new place. What about you?”

Uh-huh, nope, SANS is the one asking questions here. Not momma’s boy.

“just here and there. what do you like about panda?”

The question seemed to shock Adam, and he began to fumble a bit.

“I, um… What do you mean ‘what do I like about her’? She’s… Um…”

The fact that it was taking him so long to come up with the simplest of answers made Sans’ contempt grow even further. How could the guy NOT talk about how great you are? Your kind personality, your humor, your laugh, your… Everything.

Just then, you re-entered from the door leading to the kitchen, causing the conversation between Sans and Adam to come to a screeching halt. You were clutching your phone to your chest and looking as if you’d just seen a ghost. The bad, spooky kind. Not the Napstablook kind.

“panda? what’s up, bud? you don’t look too good.”

Adam quickly saw his escape from the conversation and quickly diverted his attention to you, his face falling into a look of concern.

You made your way behind the counter and looked up at Sans. You've always been a bit of an open book and your face was a whirlwind of anger, confusion, and fear.

“That… That was my mom.”

“My parents want to come here, Sans. They want to _visit_ me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agh, I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! ( •́ ∧ •̀ )
> 
> I've kinda had a lot going on in my personal life. I was kinda couch surfing for a week or so and didn't really have access to the internet. I was able to write snippets here and there during my spare time at work since I write in google docs, and also when I could steal WiFi from some poor, unsuspecting coffee shop. But hey! I'm in a stable place now and have internet so HOPEFULLY we can get back into the groove of things and I can start updating regularly again! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و
> 
> As always, please feel free to leave comments or bug me over at my tumblr. Oh, and recommend music to me!
> 
> illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com


	12. Parents Suck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember, go [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8EzzLdb9szgz9m3WQVcmn_AulcCRc4OZ) to see what song the chapter name is referencing
> 
> it's rly dumb im sorry i stayed up all night writing. and then i spent all day at work writing in my spare time. and then even more writing when i got home from work!!! and i m a bit delirious but here ya GO the longest chapter so far at almost 5k words b/c i couldn't find a good stopping point. but i know you guys probably won't complain. more to read amirite?
> 
> also tw for reference to self harm. please let me know if you want an indicator for you to skip over and i can summarize it.
> 
> edit 8/11: hhhhhhhhhhhhh i was re-reading this ch to make sure everything was ok and there was a bunch of formatting that was missing. i feel silly but that's whatcha get when you post something after not sleeping for like 2 days straight. should be fixed now, please point out any errors you see if not!!

“they _what_?” Sans asked incredulously, standing up with his hands on the bar, his outrage palpable.

“Guys?” Adam piped up, waving his hand slightly to get your attention. "I’m a little lost here,”

Sans swung his head to openly glare at Adam. “ _this has **nothing **to do with you,****_ ” he snarled.

“Sans, please!” You say, reaching your hand out to try to calm your friend. “Don’t redirect your anger at Adam.”

Sans scoffed and sat back down, still glaring.

Adam shrugged, “I guess I just don’t understand what’s so bad about your parents coming. Do you guys just not get along or something?”

You sighed and Sans spoke up, “don’t comment on stuff you know nothin’ about.”

Adam threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. “Okay! Fine! Enlighten me, then! I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong, so quit treating me like the bad guy here.” Adam was now returning Sans’ scowl, the two of them refusing to break eye-contact.

You put your hands on your hips, annoyed with your friends. “Both of you, knock it off,” you snapped. “Sans, I appreciate you trying to protect me but I can protect myself. And Adam, it’s obviously a touchy subject and not something that you should push for answers on.” They both dropped their glares, looking at you with a sheepish look on their faces. 

With a sigh, you dropped your hands from your hips, looking absolutely deflated. “Saying that I don’t get along with my parents would be a vast understatement. It’s not something I want to talk about but that’s really all you need to know, anyway.”

Sans noticed that your hands were still shaking just slightly and vowed to himself to make you happy when you came over tonight.

Adam huffed, crossing his arms. “Fine. You know you can talk to me, though.”

Sans bristled and looked as if he was about to say something else when you threw him a sharp look. He quickly stopped himself and settled back into his seat, looking at you with only concern.

You smiled kindly at him before redirecting your attention to Adam.

“I really do appreciate that, Adam. I’ll let you know if I feel up for talking about it, okay?”

Adam flashed a charming smile. “Good to hear. I gotta run, I had mostly just wanted to stop by and say ‘hi’. But, hey, are you busy tonight?” he said, leaning over the counter towards you again.

Sans smiled smugly. “yeah, she is. she’s comin’ over to my place tonight. sorry, _pal_.”

Adam’s grin quickly warped into a scowl as he turned to Sans and Sans’ grin grew even more. Adam quickly composed himself as he turned back to you.

“That’s fine, I’ll just see you at the party tomorrow,” he said, shooting Sans a quick side glance. He then got up and began making his way to the front door, lazily waving over his shoulder. “See you there!” 

“i don’t like that guy,” Sans said as soon as Adam left the building. 

You rolled your eyes. “Really? I couldn’t tell.”

Sans turned to you fully. “i’m being serious here, panda. he gives me a bad vibe.”

“You say the same thing about Mettaton,” you retort, crossing your arms. Sans continued to glower at you. You dropped your arms and put a hand on his, “Look, I’m just trying to give the guy a chance. As soon as he does something fishy, he’s out for good. Okay? I promise.”

Sans continued to search your face for a moment before giving up with a sigh and put his other hand on top of yours. “okay, i trust your judgment.” He reluctantly removed his hands from yours and got up. “i wish i could hang here for a bit longer but i really have to get to work. i’ll see you tonight?”

“See you tonight,” you echoed with a smile.

~*~

**panda:** Hey, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it over tonight, I’m super tired after work, plus something came up :/ I’m sorry

 **You:** you sure? i already got everything all set up

 **panda:** Raincheck?

 **You:** are you actually busy or are you just saying that?

Sans put his phone down with a sigh after checking it for the nth time after that final text. You still hadn’t responded over an hour later. He figured you were probably having a bad night and didn’t want to bother him with it or something.

But that’s just silly.

Coming to a decision, he gets up to make sure that you’re not alone tonight.

At first, he thinks he should just teleport right into your room but if someone were to try to find you only to find you missing then people might freak out.

Taking the next best option, he decides to teleport directly into the kitchen of your house.

The _pop_ noise and slight rush of air as he appears startles Amari, in the middle of making a sandwich. They jump and drop their butter knife with a loud clatter and turn around abruptly to find the source of the noise.

“heya,” Sans says with a lazy wave. “i’m gonna steal panda for a bit.” They nod wordlessly, eyes wide, still a bit spooked.

“cool,” Sans says, and then teleports out of the kitchen into your room.

~

“Jeez,” Amari mutters once Sans disappears. “I knew living with monsters was gonna be different, but _teleporting_? That’s some RPG shit.” They look down at the butter knife on the floor, having splattered mayo everywhere.

With a resigned sigh, they begin to clean up. “A damn text woulda worked,” they muttered under their breath, still bitter about being scared.

~

A big lump in the middle of your bed was the only thing to signify that you were even in the room.

He could see your phone laying next to you, a wire coming from it and disappearing under the blanket. You must be listening to music, hence your lack of reaction to him appearing in your room.

With a chuckle, he has an idea. He pulls his phone out and starts writing a text.

 **You:** knock knock

He sees your phone go off. A moment later, your hand snakes out from underneath the blanket to grab hold of your phone and drag it under with you.

He can hear your fingernails tapping the screen, and a moment later:

 **panda:** I’ll bite. Who’s there?

Sans is trying really hard to stifle his laughter as he types out his reply.

 **You:** interrupting skeleton

He hears you tapping out your response yet again and takes that moment to spring his trap. He doesn’t give you a chance to finish the text as he rushes over to the bed and scoops you up, eliciting a small squeak from inside the blanket.

“S-Sans?” Your muffled voice comes from inside the tangle.

“yup.” 

“What’re you doing here?” You say as you struggle to get your head out from underneath the blanket.

“you promised we would hang out so i’m takin’ you to my place.”

“Wait, Sans, don’t-” You get cut off as you begin to teleport and a loud yowling noise comes from the mass of blanket, drowned out by your yell of pain.

Sans panics and sets you down on the couch immediately as soon as the two of you appear in his living room.

“what the hell was that?” Sans asks as he untangles you from the blanket. He then notices the mass under the blanket desperately trying to escape. A moment later, Fiera’s head pokes out and tumbles onto the couch, a bit unsteady.

Canela trills from her post on the cat tower and makes her way over to her friend, who has her tail poofed to an unimaginable size. Canela begins to groom her and they both settle into a cuddle puddle on the farthest side of the couch, near the sliding door.

“I was saying ‘wait’ because, uh, I don’t think cats like teleporting. I mean it’s not exactly pleasant but I’ve gotten used to it,” you say as you finally get your head free from the mass of blanket.

“sorry,” Sans says with a wince. “i’ve never known cats to like being under blankets.”

You chuckle. “It’s okay, it’s understandable. Fiera’s kinda weird like that. She, uh… She lays with me when I’m… bummed out…” You trail off, your gaze falling to the floor.

“called it,” Sans says as he plops onto the couch next to you. “so, uh, you okay?”

You huffed. “She scratched me up pretty bad, but I’m fine.”

“‘s not what i meant.”

You flinched.

Sans put his arm around you. “we promised we’d talk about this kinda stuff, right? you know you don’t have to hide away from me of all people.”

You relaxed into his side. “... Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Sans gave you a slight shake as he pulled you into a tighter hug. “hey, don’t be sorry. ‘s not something you need to apologize for. just know i’m always here if you need to talk, okay?” You nodded. “good. now let’s go get those scratches cleaned up.” Sans stood up and began to take the blanket off of you, but you stopped him. He gave you a confused look.

“Heh, uh, don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. I just need to… Uh…” You stood up and began to shimmy around him, still clutching the blanket to you. “You got some hydrogen peroxide in your bathroom?” You stopped and turned to him. “Do skeletons even need hydrogen peroxide?”

Sans suppressed a giggle. “yeah, we keep it around for our more fleshy friends, just in case. really, though, panda. let me help you out. it’ll go a lot faster with the two of us.”

“No!” He gave you a confused look at your sudden outburst and you winced at your volume. “I… It’s okay, really. I can handle it.”

His confused look dropped into an accusatory one. “what are you trying to hide?”

“Nothing!” you said, your frustration mounting. You turned to go into the bathroom and Sans watched you go. 

He waited until the door was shut and he could hear you rummaging in the cupboards before he teleported in.

You had set the blanket on the counter and were on your hands and knees rummaging through the cupboard under the sink. Upon his entrance, you panicked and hit your head on the cabinet and crawled out with a groan to Sans’ amusement.

When you sat down to rub your head, Sans saw the extent of your scratches on your legs. He winced and muttered another ‘sorry’.

However, upon closer inspection, he noticed that some of them were more… Uniform than the others.

He knelt down in front of you and gently grabbed your leg to get a closer look.

“panda... is this…?” He looked up to meet your eyes, but you were staring at the wall.

“I didn’t want you to come in here.”

Wordlessly, Sans reached around you to grab the hydrogen peroxide and cotton balls and began to clean all of the scratches and cuts on your legs.

“y’know... if it makes you feel any better, i’ve been there too. it’s just, uh, kinda impossible to do anything like this to bone.”

That got your attention. You quickly turned to him and looked at him with confusion.

“You mean you...?”

Sans noded. “i knew the feeling, but never really acted on it, only because there was nothing to do short of cracking or scraping a bone.” You winced and Sans gave a humorless chuckle. “yeah, sorry, i know that’s not a pretty thing to picture.”

After your cuts were all cleaned up, he sat down and pulled you into his lap.

“please let me help you with this kind of stuff in the future. you don’t have to hide from me, okay? i understand.”

Your head was rested on his sternum, and he could feel you nod. When you started sniffling, he stroked your back until you calmed down.

From there, he carried you into the living room and you both sat and watched movies until you fell asleep.

~*~

You woke up sprawled halfway on top of Sans on his couch the next morning. It wasn’t something entirely new as you were a bit of a cuddler. You still got yourself up quickly, wiping drool from the corner of your mouth and grimacing when you noticed you drooled on Sans’ shirt, near the bottom of his ribs.

You quickly tried to wipe it off with your thumb so that he wouldn’t notice it when he made a startled laughing noise before promptly falling off of the couch. From his position on the floor, he looked up at you with a light blue dusting his cheeks.

“Sans, are you… Ticklish?”

Sans scoffed and rubbed the back of his neck. “pfft, nah, you just hit me in the funny bone is all.”

“The funny bone is in your arm. And it’s not a bone, it’s a nerve… Which you don’t have. So how…?” You trailed off with a baffled look on your face.

Sans just shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. “magic. that’s usually the explanation for everything regarding monsters. you wanna get ready to go soon? do you have to help set up for the housewarming party tonight?”

“Ohhh no, you’re not changing the subject that easily. You _are_ ticklish, aren’t you?” You said, a devilish smirk spreading across your face.

Sans started to slowly crawl backwards away from you. “look, panda, i know what you’re thinkin’ and i’m tellin’ you right now you really shouldn’t-”

You cut him off as you leaped from the couch on top of him and mercilessly began tickling his ribs.

He struggled and gasped for air, laughing so hard that it sounded more like a wheeze than anything else. “panda! p-please, stop!”

Ignoring him, you continued your assault until you felt a slight pressure on your chest and a blue tint came over your vision. You were being lifted into the air.

You huffed and crossed your arms. “Aw, Sans, c’mon! Using magic is cheating, you lazybones.” 

Sans got up, ignoring you, and began to saunter away.

“Okay, point made!” You yelled after him. “You can let me down now!” He disappeared into his room. “Sans, we have to go soon! Let me down!”

No answer.

“... Sans?”

~

You were eventually let down, but only after Papyrus had entered the living room to see you sitting upside-down and cross-legged on the roof. He yelled at Sans for getting you stuck, but he fell asleep in the middle of the lecture.

You ended up being late to the party only due to the fact that you couldn’t teleport because you had to get poor Fiera back home without traumatizing her again.

When you finally arrived, it seemed that the party was just about in full swing.

There were a lot of faces that you didn’t recognize and you spent most of your night being introduced to people. You kind of felt bad that the only one that you got to introduce was your cat, but that was the point of moving to a new town; a fresh start. You think you’d done pretty well on that so far.

Well, except for your parents suddenly wanting to see you again. But you could worry about that later. Tonight was for fun and you weren’t going to let anyone take that from you.

You had always felt a bit awkward around new people, so you tended to follow around the ones that you already knew. Your friends were all happy to see you, though it had really only been Toriel and Asgore whom you had not seen for some time. Frisk was there as well, but their friend Monster Kid had been unable to make it, so they stuck with you most of the night. They got along well with the other monsters and it helped you relax a bit.

You finally did get to introduce someone when Adam arrived. As soon as you spotted him, you made your way over to say hi.

“Hey! Fashionably late, I see.”

He chuckled. “Yup, you know me.” His eyes trailed down to Frisk, still at your side, and his eyes widened. “Are you…?”

Frisk plastered a large grin on their face. “Yup, I’m Frisk, the monster ambassador. Nice to meet you!”

Adam quickly knelt down to get on their level. “Wow, it’s nice to meet you! I’ve heard all about what you’ve done.”

Frisk shrugged. “Anyone with a good heart would have done what I did.”

Adam hummed thoughtfully.

The two continued to stare at each other for a moment longer. The exchange was uncomfortable, and Frisk quickly grabbed your hand saying they wanted to introduce you to someone before dragging you off.

“I don’t like him,” they muttered when they were out of earshot.

“Adam? Yeah, he can be kinda weird.”

Frisk shook their head. “Not that. He just gives me an off feeling.”

“An off feeling? What do you mean?”

They shook their head again in dismissal as you walked up to a cat monster, but the look they gave you let you know that you would talk about it later.

The monster they were leading you up to had been hanging around the edge of the party since the beginning, you recalled. He was leaning against a wall and holding a beer bottle in one hand, looking overall disinterested. As soon as he noticed Frisk, however, he immediately perked up.

“Hey, little buddy!” He said as he crouched down to Frisk’s level. You noticed this was something people did a lot with their short stature and found it endearing. The cat monster reached over and ruffled their hair which was met with a squeal of protest before Frisk ran and hid behind you.

He laughed and stood back up and met your gaze before waving in greeting. “Hey there. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“Oh, well, my name is ____ but everyone just calls me Panda,” you replied.

“Neat, nickname buddies. My name is Percy but everyone’s taken to calling me Burgerpants. It’s kind of a terrible nickname but it’s honestly preferable to Percy,” he said with a shrug.

“So you’re the Burgerpants I’ve heard all about, huh?”

Burgerpants went completely stiff and began looking around. “You’ve, uh, heard of me, huh? W-what exactly did you hear?”

You giggled. “Don’t worry, nothing bad.”

He visibly relaxed with a sigh. “Oh, thank god.”

You, Burgerpants and Frisk continued to talk for the next hour or so. You mingled with everyone else, but the three of you stuck together and you had found a fast friend in Burgerpants. You spent most of your night following around Frisk, the little social butterfly they are, as they introduced you to as many monsters as they could. 

As it started to get later, the party had begun to wind down. When you finally had a moment alone with your close friends, including Frisk, Sans, Papyrus, Amari, Undyne, and Alphys, (Adam was there, too) you decided to tell them about the news of your Parents.

“They’re separated and don’t really get along, but I told them that if they wanted to visit, then they had to come at the same time to save me the stress,” you ended with a sigh.

“I-I take it that you don’t g-get along with your parents that well?” Alphys said. You shook your head.

“That’s rough, buddy,” Undyne said as she patted you on the back. 

Amari nodded. “I can understand that. Parents suck.”

“Why, what’s up with you?” Adam interjected. Amari gave him a strange look. (So did everyone else.)

“Well, I mean, they didn’t really take well to my being non-binary. They insisted on calling me ‘their daughter’ and just didn’t really respect who I was. It just wasn’t a good situation and I haven’t really spoken to them in quite some time. It doesn’t bother me anymore,” they finished with a shrug.

“Well, the reason I’m telling you guys is because I have a favor to ask,” you start, trying to drive the conversation back in the right direction. Everyone gave you their full attention, and you couldn’t help but think to yourself what good friends you had.

“I, uh, don’t exactly want to meet with them alone, so I was wondering if all of us could meet them here,” you said as your eyes trailed to the floor, embarrassed to ask for help with your own parents. “Please don’t feel obligated to help. You really don’t have to, I know it’s kind of a strange request.”

Everyone in the group exchanged glances with each other before coming to a mutual decision. Undyne walked over to you and slung her arm over your shoulder in a half hug, half headlock type of move.

“Of course we’ll stay with you, you dork! If they try anything fishy, they’ll get their asses kicked!” She said, fiercely clenching her fist. “Uh, that is, if you want me to,” she added a bit sheepishly.

Sans’ comment of “heh. fishy.” earned him a collective glare from the group.

You laughed. “Thanks, you guys. It… It means a lot,” you said as you buried your face in your elbow, refusing to let anyone see your face.

“WHY OF COURSE, DEAR PANDA!” Papyrus scooped you into a hug. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NOT BE WORTHY OF THE TITLE ‘GREAT’ IF HE DID NOT DO WHATEVER HE COULD FOR A FRIEND IN NEED!”

“Biological families are for chumps, anyway!” Undyne crowed. She glanced at the skeleton brothers before adding “Uh, at least most of them.”

“It’s more fun to choose your own family, anyway,” Frisk said as they squeezed between Alphys and Amari, holding each of their hands.

Amari smiled down at Frisk and squeezed their hand. “It is, isn’t it?”

“F-Frisk is right!” Alphys added. “I d-don’t really have a family, but you’re all what I’d l-like to think a family is like…” she trailed off, blushing and Undyne laughed and scooped her fiancé into a hug before nuzzling into her cheek.

“what she said. uh, you know, excluding some.” Sans added with a side glance at Adam. 

Adam just shrugged and ignored the comment. “So when are they supposed to be here?”

“… Tomorrow.”

~*~

The next day, you were doing all you could to not panic. You were surprised you didn’t make a track on the carpet where you had been pacing since you finished getting ready this morning.

Your parents were due to show up any minute now. Although they didn’t get along, they were carpooling to save money and to actually respect your wishes of coming together instead of at different times. Though you assumed it was just for the money saving thing.

All of your friends were already gathered at your home, all of them seemingly just as nervous as you, some better at hiding it than others.

Just when you thought you couldn’t take the stress anymore, you heard a knock.

Your stomach could probably be an Olympic gymnast as you speed-walked to the door, your nerves still getting the better of you.

You opened the door, and there were the three people you hadn’t seen in years. Your mother, your father, and your step-mom.

Your mother was a somewhat stout woman, her face framed by her large glasses and long, dark wavy hair that was becoming naturally ombre starting at the roots as she aged. You resembled her more than you did your father. Her arms were crossed, seemingly annoyed from the ride. That or the fact that you two hadn’t spoken since you left almost two years ago now.

Your father was stocky, his muscles still prominent despite his age, nearly 70 now, and his salt and pepper hair was balding to a widow’s peak. He was wearing his ever-present goofy grin and seemed happy to see you. He was the first to step forward and embrace you.

Finally, your step-mother, the almost painfully kind woman who reminded you a bit of Toriel and was the only one of your parents to ever fully support you, no matter the circumstance. Her long, almost-gray light brown hair was pulled into her trademark messy ponytail on top of her head and she was smiling kindly at you. She was always wearing a skirt of some kind. You never said it out loud, but she was more of a mother to you growing up than your biological mother, despite not even becoming your step mother until just recently.

After greetings between you and your parents were all said and done, you invited them to come inside. As soon as they got past you and saw your monster friends, your biological parents froze in their tracks. Your step-mother didn’t even miss a beat and began hugging all of your friends in greeting.

“Uh, mom, dad, these are my friends and roommates. Everyone, this is my dad, Thomas, my mom Sophia and my step-mom… Also Sofia, just spelled differently.”

After greetings were all taken care of, a slightly awkward silence ensued. Your biological parents looked very uncomfortable, but Sofia was talking animatedly with Alphys about the cute flower designs on Alphys' dress.

Your dad was quickly getting cagey and kept staring at Frisk, probably wondering what a small child was doing around so many monsters.

Your mom wasn’t as bad, however, but she was mostly bombarding you with questions about what _exactly_ you’ve been up to, and you could pick up on her undertones, upset with you for leaving (despite her chasing you off) but this was typical of your relationship with your mother, her doing something and then not taking the blame.

Your dad, however, was a social man, so him not speaking to anyone and acting nervous was confusing you.

You had taken a seat next to Sans and had been whispering back and forth about your parents, you explaining their mannerisms. You were quickly getting angry with your father, suspecting that his silence came from a place of hate. He was a kind man, for sure, but he was older and had outdated ideals.

When he excused himself to step outside for a moment, it pushed you over the edge. You were pissed that your dad was too narrow-minded to try to speak to your friends just because they were monsters. You sat there debating for a few minutes if you should go confront him before you made up your mind.

Sans tried to stop you, but you weren’t listening. When you got outside, your father was talking in a hushed tone on his old cellphone to someone. You marched up and snatched the phone from his hand and flipped it shut with a loud _snap_. 

“Dad, what the _fuck_ is wrong with you? Why can’t you even TRY to get to know them? Are you seriously not even going to bother just because they’re monsters or something?” You said as you gestured wildly with your arms.

Your dad’s shock was obvious on his face but then melted into a look of somber understanding.

“Sorry, dear, I think you’ve gotten the wrong idea.”

“Okay, then do you wanna explain why the hell you won’t talk to anyone?”

“It’s… The kid, you said her name was Frisk, right?”

“Yeah, _their_ name is Frisk. Neutral pronouns.”

“And how did you meet her?”

“I met **_them_** through Sans and everyone else. Why are you freaking out about them? They're used to monsters. They're the monster ambassador and they were adopted by our friend Toriel, who couldn’t make it tonight. What’s the big deal?”

He hissed in a breath through his teeth and you could hear him mutter _’yikes’_ under his breath. Your eyes narrowed and you were about to start yelling at him when he cut you off.

“Well, she… They looked familiar to me, so I made a quick call to her… Ugh, _their_ biological mother.” 

Your furious gaze quickly melted into one of confusion. “Their… What? How do you…?”

“Frisk’s mom is in prison for child abuse. She won’t be out for a long time, and since no one knew who the biological father was, the child went into foster care and ran away at some point. I guess they ended up with… What did you say her name was? Taurus or something?”

“Toriel,” you replied, dumbfounded. “What does this have to do with anything?”

“Well, uh…” Your dad reached up and scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Frisk is your half-sibling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and im dead ugh~
> 
> man i hope you guys like this one im super tired and i'm probably gonna need to break for a bit before i can get started on the next chapter -(~。~；)
> 
> sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger 
> 
> also yes my mom and step-mom irl have the same name, i just changed the names b/c privacy (desperately tries to convince myself that this isn't a self insert)
> 
> come yell at me about it over on my tumblr, illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com


	13. Better Think Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> angst and arguing with the parentals, fun fun
> 
> ALSO special shoutout to my beta / ch. title recommender [RavenZaphara!](http://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenZaphara/pseuds/RavenZaphara)  
> They are amazing and also wrote the fic that inspired this, so please check them out if you get the chance! (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> this chapter was uploaded at work so please let me know if there's any formatting issues!! thank you!!

“They… Frisk is my sibling?” Your dad nodded slowly, carefully watching you digest the information. “Then you just…” Your look of confusion contorted into one of rage. “How the _hell_ did they end up in FOSTER care? You’re their biological dad, you should have done something! Do you know what the hell that poor kid went through?”

Your dad held up both of his hands in self-defense. “I understand your anger. I’m angry too. I only _just_ found out about Shannon going to prison a couple of months ago.” You tilted your head in skeptical confusion. “We had a child together quite a few years ago, but she didn’t want me to be a part of their life and I just didn’t bother contesting it. It was after she cut me out of her life when I got together with Sofia.

“When I found out, though, I was doing whatever I could to find the child. Apparently, none of Shannon’s family would take her in because Shannon and I were never married and they are all very strictly religious. That’s how she... They ended up in foster care. I had heard about a legal battle with monsters and I had feared the worst,” You bristled, but he waved you off. “It looks like everything turned out okay. I knew the moment you introduced them that it was my daughter. Or… Child? Sorry, I’m not any good at this whole thing.”

“You’re at least making an effort,” you conceded.

“That’s why I’ve been a bit off tonight,” he continued. “I wasn’t positive until I stepped out to speak with Shannon. She loves Frisk, she’s just… Unstable. She keeps tabs on them still, and she’s the one who told me that Frisk was adopted by a woman named Toriel. That’s how I confirmed it.”

Your anger had slowly transformed into amazement as your father spoke.

“I… I have a little sibling?” you whispered. Your dad gave you an amused grin and nodded. “Should… I tell them? Should I let them know? Or should I just leave it be?”

Your dad hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t want to stir up any trouble, but it would be good for her to know.”

You were stunned but you still muttered out a ‘ _they_ ’.

“Plus I know you’ve always wanted a younger sibling,” he added with a chuckle.

Just then, you heard the front door open. When you both turned to look, you could see Sans sticking his head out.

“hey, uh, is everything okay out here?”

“Sans, I…” You couldn’t figure out how to say what you were thinking. He quickly made his way over to you and fixed your dad with a suspicious look, staying close to your side. Noticing this, you put a hand on his shoulder and shook your head.

“It’s nothing he did, I’m just… At a loss for words.”

“what’s goin' on?”

“Frisk… They’re my half-sibling.” His brow bones raised and he looked over to your dad for confirmation who nodded in return.

You quickly gave Sans a run-down of the situation so he wouldn’t get angry like you did. “... And now I’m just wondering how to tell them.”

“well, frisk is a smart kid. maybe when we go back in just pull ‘em aside and lay it all out like how you told me.”

You hummed in thought. “Well, shouldn’t Toriel be here? I feel bad, like I’m going behind her back or something…”

Sans shook his head. “nah, frisk singlehandedly emancipated an entire species. i think they can handle that they’ve been friends with their half-sister for a few months without knowing.”

You couldn’t help but giggle at the comparison. “I guess you’re right. Let’s go back inside, I’m… Kinda excited now.”

Sans smiled at you and led you back inside where you immediately began to look for Frisk.

“Frisk, bud, do you mind if I talk to you for a sec’?” you say as you gesture to your room.

Frisk nodded eagerly and followed you to the more private area. Fiera had been hiding in your room since she was a bit afraid of unfamiliar people, but as soon as Frisk made their way into the room, she meowed at them until they sat down for her to hop onto their lap.

“So, uh, Frisk. It’s about what I was talking to my dad about outside,” you started. “He told me… Uh… He knows your biological mom.”

Frisk’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, and you continued. “He… Well, I mean, I don’t have to sugar coat it for you or anything. Frisk, Thomas is your biological dad.”

You could practically see the gears turning as they processed what you said. After a moment, they gasped and quickly put Fiera aside before lunging at you to hug you.

“Oh my _god_!” Frisk shouted, elated, bouncing up and down as they continued to exclaim, “Oh my god, oh my god! Panda! You’re…?”

You laughed. “Yeah, that was basically my reaction, too. I’m your big sister, Frisk!” you said with a cheesy smile.

They laughed and hugged you tighter, burying their face in the crook of your neck.

“You know, I had said that it’s more fun to choose family, but… I’m glad that you of all people are my sister,” they mumbled.

You teared up a bit and renewed your tight hug. “I’m _honored_ to know that the amazing Frisk is my little sibling. I’ve always been proud of you, but now I can brag about you.”

You both dissolved into a case of the giggles. After a few more moments, you piped up.

“So, uh, I don’t think we should hang out in here too long. So… Um…”

“Nope, sorry, I’m stuck here now,” Frisk said, still hugging you. “Nothing can be done.”

“I’m perfectly fine with that,” you said with a shrug. You picked them up and began carrying them to the living room. They were giggling and you were trying to act like you weren’t struggling with their weight. Not that they were actually heavy, you were just a bit lacking in the muscle department. Plus you only had about a head of height on them, making carrying them a bit awkward until you switched to a princess hold, their arms still wrapped around your neck.

Upon entering the room, you got varying looks of confusion from everyone in the room, aside from your dad and Sans, who were smiling warmly at you.

“Pap, you know I love you, right?” you said.

“WELL, OF COURSE, PANDA! AND I _PLATONICALLY_ LOVE YOU AS WELL! THAT IS WHAT YOU MEANT, RIGHT?”

You laughed. “Of course. So you know that I mean no offense when I say that I may have Sans beaten in the ‘best little sibling’ department,” you said as you glanced down at Frisk.

“whoa, hey, let’s not jump to conclusions here. i think you’re forgetting who my little bro is.”

“The only way to settle this is WITH A SIBLING COMPETITION!!!” Undyne suddenly added. “Though, uh, Panda… I thought you were an only child, what are you talking about?”

Undyne’s comment quickly earned you a sharp look from both of your biological parents, which you ignored.

“Well, apparently I was wrong because I just found out that Frisk here is technically my half-sibling. So…” you trailed off with a shrug.

Both of your moms swiveled their head to look at your dad, but he was trying hard to not pay them any attention. Everyone else in the room took a moment to digest the information before Undyne breaks out into a cheer and hefts the two of you up above her head.

“WHAT WONDERFUL NEWS!” Papyrus added, “I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THE TWO OF YOU MIGHT BE RELATED! SANS TOLD ME THAT IT WAS SPECIEST TO ASSUME THAT ALL HUMANS WERE RELATED TO EACH OTHER. BUT IT LOOKS LIKE I WAS RIGHT!”

“in this case specifically, yeah. still doesn’t apply to every human.”

“I WAS ONLY PARTIALLY RIGHT!”

“When did _this_ happen?” your mother finally spoke.

That’s when you notice your mom’s venomous glare. Sighing, you make your way over to her.

“After you but before Sofia,” your dad finally said. She only huffed in response.

“Are you really upset that dad had another child?” you asked her.

“No, with _him_ it was almost a wonder there aren’t more kids out there. You know,” she turned to you as you sat next to her, her face slightly scrunched in barely-contained anger, “It was _my_ idea to come out here to see you, not your father’s.”

“... Okay?”

“ _So_ , I’d appreciate it if you didn’t run off with your dad at the first chance you get.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose.

“Mom, I didn’t ‘run off’ with dad. I stepped outside to talk to him for, what, 10 minutes?”

“Well, I would still appreciate some of your time after coming all this way to see you.”

You sighed. Your mom was really good at making you very tired very quickly.

“Mom, we _have_ been spending time together. You’ve just been practically interrogating me since you got here.”

From the corner of your eye, you could see Sans and Frisk making their way over to you. You held up a hand letting them know you’d be a minute. Sans shrugged and started talking with Sofia, who was now speaking with Papyrus about best pasta recipes while Frisk continued to watch intently.

“I just wish you would _try_ to spend more time with me, I mean, why haven’t you even stopped by to say hello since you moved out?”

“ _Moved out?!_ ” You snapped. The conversations around you came to a halt, and you hated that you were drawing attention to yourself, but you couldn’t stop. “Mom, what do you mean, ‘moved out’? You _made_ me get out because you couldn’t deal with ‘the lazy piece of shit I was’,” you said as you air quoted quizzaciously.

“I didn’t _make_ you do anything,” she retorted, “But you’re doing well on your own, so what’s the big deal?”

You ran your hands through your hair. It was remembering arguments like these that made you glad that you had left in the first place.

You knew better than to try to argue with her because she could never see the wrong in any of her actions. It was like talking to a brick wall. You steadied yourself with a few quick, deep breaths and stood up.

“You’re right. Sorry. I’ll make an effort. But right now I really need to speak with Frisk, so excuse me for a minute.”

Your mother scowled. “I don’t appreciate your act of trying to say whatever you can just to appease me. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me.”

You whipped your head to look at her, completely baffled. That was _exactly_ what you had to do with her! As you were about to retort, your dad spoke up.

“Sweetie, we just wanted you to have a chance to grow a bit more,” he said, infuriatingly calm. “You obviously needed it and we just wanted what was best for you.”

“What was… Best for me? Don't you think you could’ve maybe picked a better time to show ol’ ____ some tough love? You both knew I was having a rough time and neither of you even _cared_ , you just wanted the easiest way out which just so happened to be sweeping the whole thing under the rug and hoping it would fix itself.”

“I knew this was a bad idea for you to visit. Please, just…” You began to walk over to the door to show them out.

“What were we supposed to do when you weren’t even making an effort?” your mother snapped. “You refused to speak to any of your family, not even your _only_ -” she shot your father a glare before returning to you, “-blood sibling, your brother. Do you still not even bother to try to contact him?”

“Lawrence is always going to be your brother, ____,” your dad added.

You froze.

“ _Get out_ ,” you pointed to the door. “That man is not my brother and you both know this. I’m not going to sit here and have you two try to convince me to talk to him again when you know that I don’t even fucking want his _name_ spoken around me. If you can’t respect something so simple, just leave. I don’t care how long it took for you to drive here. Get a hotel.”

Your mom looked like she was about to have another outburst, but your dad mercifully stopped her and began leading her to the door while shooting a disapproving look your way. Sofia followed, obviously torn between wanting to stay and comfort you and respecting your wishes. You gave her a small nod to let her know that you appreciated the thought and she returned the gesture before following your parents out.

As soon as the trio was out the door, you slammed it and locked it. All of your friends were looking at you with various levels of concern.

“Well, that sure was a shitshow,” Adam piped up. You had forgotten he was here and rested your face in your hand. You were too tired to deal with this. You missed the collective glare he received from everyone else as you began making your way to your room.

“Sorry guys, I’m… I’m just tired. We can hang out tomorrow or something.”

Everyone watched you as you went, but no one wanted to stop you. After exchanging some uneasy glances, everyone decided that it would be best to leave you alone for now and went home. Except for Sans.

After taking Frisk and Papyrus home, he popped into your room, startling you.

“Jesus, Sans! Give me a warning next time, _please_ ,” you groaned as you rolled over in bed and pulled the blanket over your head.

He chuckled and made his way over to you, sitting on the bed next to you. “sorry, didn’t mean to make you _jump out of your skin_.”

You sighed. “So why exactly are you in my room at-” you glanced at the clock on your nightstand, “midnight? Party’s over, bud.”

“figured i’d hang around for the after party,” he replied. Suddenly serious again, he removed the blanket from your head to get a good look at you. “panda, what was that back there? what’s going on between you and your family? i mean your bio mom i can kinda get a good idea of, but your dad doesn’t seem too bad but i’m obviously missing something here.”

You played with the hem of your blanket, not really sure what to say. Sans’ full attention was on you, however, and his unwavering gaze was making you a bit uncomfortable.

“You… You really want to know? It’s… Kind of a long story...” He nodded without hesitation, and when you looked at him you could tell that he was determined to get his way.

“I mean, like… This is _literally_ my entire life story you’re asking for here to understand what the hell is going on.” He continued to look at you expectantly, You shrugged. “Alright, you asked for it.”

“To get a better understanding of what’s going on, I think… I need to give you a bit of backstory on my dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ehhhhh I'm not really happy with this chapter!!  
> I had super bad writers block the whole time I was writing it, hence why it took so long.  
> plus I mean I kinda have been comparing my fic a _bit_ too much to other fics and got myself in a bit of a slump b/c its not as good as others, which didn't help my writers block, heh.  
>  but that's my own damn fault （；￣д￣）
> 
> as always come yell at me over at [my tumblr!](http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com)
> 
> also s/o to vsauce for teaching me quizzaciously im going to use it all the time


	14. Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's about damn time, huh?
> 
> remember, the playlist for this series is [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8EzzLdb9szgz9m3WQVcmn_AulcCRc4OZ)

_“To get a better understanding of what’s going on, I think… I need to give you a bit of backstory on my dad.”_

~~~

“your dad? why would we have to start with him?” Sans inquired.

“He’s basically the root to all of my problems,” you chuckled darkly as you sat up.

Sans scooted over to you and put his arm over your shoulder. “take your time, okay? you don’t need to force yourself for my sake.“

You sighed, “It’s really okay. I need to get it out of my system. So…”

~*~

_I guess I would have to go all the way back to when my dad was young, when all of **his** problems started which carried over to **my** life._

_My dad had just gotten back from war and he was understandably in a bad place mentally. He had turned to drugs. Not super hardcore stuff, but at the time… Pot was still illegal._

_He started making a name for himself, selling and growing the stuff. He left his wife, with whom he had 6 children, for my mom because she was younger and more willing to be in the business._

_My dad became a full on drug-lord, running drugs all over the country, and was incredibly wealthy._

_My mom’s sister wanted in on the money. She also wanted my dad out of the market and had also needed to help her husband get out of jail, so they set him up to try to get him less time in prison._

_It was around this time that my brother was just a newborn. My dad was taken into a trial but ran out at the last minute. It’s when his life as a fugitive began._

_That was when he took my mom and my brother and went cross-country. They still had a good amount of money, but he had to take on an alias. He took my mother’s surname and gave himself the name Theodore. I never learned my dad’s real name until I was almost 14. But we’ll get to that._

_They were living rather comfortably, still living off of the money he had made from before. They had a nice house and a nice amount of savings. However, their luck took a turn for the worse and their house burnt down. It took a lot of their savings to get a new house, and things were starting to wear thin. This is around the time I was born._

_It was almost Christmas time, and I was only a few months old. My dad caught wind of the FBI trying to corner him and capture him. He sent my mom off as quickly as possible, and since it was just her and two children, none of them wanted, they got past the barricade around the area easily._

_My dad, however, had to sneak out, hiding in the trunk of a friend’s car. They only barely escaped, and my dad knew he needed to get far away._

_They had to leave everything at the house, and I mean everything. They didn’t have banks because they couldn’t open any under a false name and it was really sketchy, so everything was lost that night they had to sneak away._

_They traveled cross-country again, owning nothing but the clothes on their backs. We were all homeless for some time, but they were able to get in touch with an old friend of theirs who let them stay in one of his homes._

_Since my dad was a fugitive, it was hard for them to get work, so things were really scarce. Growing up, I didn’t have much of… Anything. All of my clothes were just my brother’s old clothes, we didn’t have much to our names, but we were surviving. It wasn’t uncommon for us to become homeless._

_We had to move around constantly, only keeping in touch with family here and there, but we really couldn’t stay in one place too long lest my father be taken into custody. He wanted to stay out so that he could at least try to support my mother, my sibling and I. We knew Sofia when I was young and at the time she was just a good family friend._

_My parents never really got along… At all. Especially while I was growing up. The only reason they stayed together was to support my brother and I. When I was around 9 years old, they separated for some time. My mom took me and my dad took my brother. I think it was around this time that he met Shannon and they had Frisk._

_so your brother probably knew about frisk, but since you were with your mom..._

_Yeah, exactly. And since my brother is a heartless bastard, he didn’t really give a shit about our newest half-sibling, so it’s no wonder no one else knew about them._

_what was it about him that made him so terrible? i know you had said that you two got into fist fights, but was that really it?_

_No, unfortunately. He’s just… I don’t know how to explain what a terrible person he is. I really don’t. Aside from the beatings I would get from him on a regular basis, there was just so much more. Most of it I just don’t want to go into, but a lot of it was just… Petty bullshit._

_He would steal my things, if I were to use something of his, he would attack me for it, and a lot of the time, he would just make up something to fight me over just to show that he was more powerful._

_He just genuinely wasn’t a good person. Some people… I feel, no matter what, just have no good in them. That they just can’t change. He was always crude, and a bully, and I think maybe he was just born to be an unkind person._

_And, of course, he was the favorite with our parents. No matter what he did, he was good in their eyes. He could do no wrong. He was planned. He was the first born, at least for my mother, so he was her ray of light. She only started to go off of the deep end once he stopped talking to her._

_So, anyway, back on track here, when I was about 14 years old, my dad decided that he no longer wanted to be on the run. He had been a fugitive for almost 20 years at this point. He conveniently decided this right around the time that my brother was stable and on his feet, and left my mom and I to fend for ourselves._

_When he went to turn himself in, they basically had told him that all charges against him had been dropped. And… That was that._

_Or so we thought._

_After the charges were ‘dropped’, he went back into his old business and was making really good money again. I was living with him along with my brother and his fiancé._

_However… That wasn’t the case. When he left the country for a convention, it basically put a red flag on him again. He was caught up to and taken into custody… Just like that._

_Turns out they wanted to use him to get to my uncle, my mom’s sister’s husband, the one who started all of this._

_My dad gave them any and all information on him that he could. Turns out my uncle was doing some really, really bad shit. They were a legitimate mob family._

_The information my dad was able to give to the FBI was able to help make his charges a bit less severe… The whole reason he had been turned in 20 years ago was because of them, so I guess… You get what you give._

_My dad ended up being in jail for a few years, not as long as his original sentence would’ve been if he had gone to jail when his crimes had originally occurred because since laws were more lenient now._

_...That and the fact that he turned in my uncle and good behavior got him out relatively quickly, I think he was only in for about 3 or 4 years._

_To this day, I still have to somewhat... Watch my back for my mom's family. If they could, I know they would try to get their hands on me to try to get back at my dad._

_And I think..._

~*~

“... That’s about the gist of things,” you sighed. “I guess I’m kinda just bitter towards my parents for even having me when they were in such a bad situation.”

You began to wring your hands together, whether in anxiety or in frustration, you weren’t sure. 

“I didn’t get to have a normal life growing up no matter how hard I tried. My brother made it worse and my parents turned a blind eye to it. I blame them for my life being as strange as it was and so that’s why I don’t really get along with them... For the most part. There's stuff I'm just too uncomfortable to talk about... I'm sorry.”

Sans sat quietly, contemplating your words for some time. While you had been talking, he had pulled you into his lap to hug you and was playing with your hair. He took the hand from your hair and put it onto your hands to help calm you.

“so, what eventually happened to have you come to this town?”

“Well… When I was 20, I was living with my mom. I had just gotten out of a _very_ serious relationship that had lasted almost 5 years, so I was already pretty down in the dumps,” you took a deep breath. “I… I had been suffering from depression for many years already at that point.” 

“A lot of the time in movies and in other fiction, they try to make you think that as soon as you find a date mate that everything becomes better, or easier, but that… Really isn’t the case.”

“That’s kind of what I had been looking for in my boyfriend. We lasted a long time, sure, but if anything it made me worse because I was trying to use him to fix myself and that just isn’t how these things work.”

“Anyway, I was in a really bad place, just lost my boyfriend and my job and uh… Well. I wasn’t exactly the first time I had tried it, just the first time I got caught,” you said as you turned your left arm over to point out the long scar trailing down your arm from your wrist.

Sans gently took your arm in his hands to gaze at the mark. “what do you mean? tried wh-...” The realization seemed to hit him. He gazed at you with a look of understanding and sadness. “so you… got caught? kind of like you did with me?”

You chuckled. “Sort of. My mom walked in on me, uh… Doing this,” you gestured vaguely to your arm, “and she rushed me to the hospital. I had to admit that I had been feeling this way for years, but I never told her that it had been… I think at that point my 4th attempt.”

“your 4th attempt? at 20 years old?”

You nodded. “If I think hard enough, I think the earliest I had felt that way was when I was 11.”

“‘s about frisk’s age when they reached the underground.”

“Yup. People don’t take children’s feelings as seriously as they should, I think. That’s why it took me so long to start getting help. But it was fine, in the end. I always seem to just… Keep going. Even when I’m at my worst. Either by myself or with help,” you smiled as you took his hand in silent thanks.

Sans hummed in thought. “that makes sense. perseverance is your dominant trait.”

Your eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Looking at Sans, you could see he was baiting you to ask more if the sly grin he wore indicated anything. You sighed.

“My dominant trait, huh? Is that some monster thing?”

“yup.”

“Not gonna elaborate?”

Sans snickered and it took a considerable amount of willpower to not smack him. You settled for glaring. 

He set you back onto the bed next to him and held up his free hand before looking at you questioningly. “can i show you somethin’?”

“If it’ll explain what you’re talking about, then yeah, please.”

With your permission, he brought his hand close to your chest. You could feel magic envelop you before you felt a slight tug from the center of your chest. 

With another decisive tug that nearly made you lose your breath, the room was suddenly filled with a very faint purple light. Hovering near Sans’ hand was a cartoonish purple heart, the source of it.

You felt slightly lightheaded but managed to get the words out, “Is… Is that some special kind of magic monsters have?”

Sans shook his head. “nope. that’s your soul, and it’s the very culmination of your being.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man this one was a toughie. had to come up with a believable story and make it work, plus there were a couple of tough topics in here, so i'm sorry for the wait OTL
> 
> plus i mean i felt kinda weird uploading this because YEAH it's panda's backstory but at the same time i kept thinking "man is this deviating too much from undertale???" so that thought kept stopping me from working on this ¯\\_(¬_¬)_/¯ 
> 
> those of you who have been to my tumblr probably already saw this coming. speaking of which, why don't you come yell at me? my tumblr for this fic can be found [here.](http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com)
> 
> so, uh, little bit of a heads up here for you guys, my mom just lost her job and while i already have a job, i'm probably gonna need to get a second one to help with bills for a little while, but i'll try to keep this fic updated in my free time. with how slow i've been updating already, there probably won't be much of a noticeable change in the updating schedule but just figured i'd let you guys know that there was an actual reason behind it, lol.
> 
> i love you guys! please let me know your thoughts!


	15. Ain't no Mountain High Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, like 90% of the time a chapter takes a long time to come out because i just can't think of a good chapter name. so you know the drill. recommend music to me in the comments  
> (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧
> 
> Edit 9/27: WHOOPS I just realized I completely forgot to format properly at all after I copy-pasted from google docs. Should be fixed now, let me know if you see any errors!

“That’s… My soul?”

“yup.”

“Huh. Neat.”

Silence.

“that, uh, doesn’t freak you out at all?”

“Freak out?” You scoffed. “Why would I freak out? That’s just my soul. A totally normal thing that I see on a daily basis and has no significance whatsoever. Just a regular old soul. Very normal.”

Sans chuckled heartily at your reaction. “okay, yup, you’re not panicking at all. gotcha.” 

You raised up a hand to hover near your… Soul. That’s gonna take some getting used to.

“Can I… Would it be bad if I touched it?” Sans just shrugged. “Sans, be serious! It’s not gonna hurt me or something if I touch it, right?”

“depends on what your intention is. souls are sensitive to emotion. if you have negative intent when you go to interact with a soul, then you’ll hurt the person, and so on.”

You took a deep breath. “Okay, nice thoughts, gotcha.” You were still nervous to touch it, so you reached slowly. As you were about to touch it, your bedroom door was kicked open by Undyne.

“HEY PUNK!” she bellowed. “We’re havin’ a bestie talk _right now_ so you’re… Uh…” her eye landed on Sans, and then on your soul before she started blushing.

“WHOA!” she exclaimed as she slammed the door shut. “SORRY, PANDA, I DIDN’T MEAN TO INTERRUPT!”

“Wait, _what_?!” you yelled back. “Interrupt what?!” Her blush had been contagious, especially since she was insinuating that something else was going on.

“Sorry!” she said through the door. “I’ll… Leave you alone!” You could hear her running away as she starting calling out for Alphys. “Babe! You owe me 10 bucks!”

Face still bright red, you turned to Sans, who was desperately trying to contain his laughter. “What is she freaking out about?”

“she, uh, probably thought we were… bonding.”

Your eyes widened and despite not really getting the meaning of the phrase, it obviously held a lot of weight, if how he said it indicated anything. You scrambled backward away from him, your soul trailing lazily after you. “Bonding? Can you... elaborate?”

Sans finally calmed down enough to get out more than a few words at a time, but was still chuckling to himself. “bonding, y’know, it’s… heh, you see, when one monster loves another monster very much…”

Your eyes widened yet further and you ended up falling off the bed in surprise. “She thought we were doing _that_?!” Sans just shrugged. “Wait, what does my soul have to do with it? Monster bonding must be pretty intense to involve souls.”

“monster bonding is basically just souls making out.”

Your blush deepened and you scratched the back of your head awkwardly. “Well, uh, that’s one way to put it I guess…”

Just then, there was a slight knock at the door before you could hear Amari talking.

“Hey, Sans. Undyne says to stop /bone-ing/ our friend and come out so we can all hang out and watch a movie.” 

“We’re _not_ doing that!” you yelled back as Sans howled in laughter. You then turned to him and began to whisper-yell as you gestured wildly to your soul. “Sans! Put it back, please! And hurry!” Sans wiped the mirthful tears from his eyes as he obliged you and the second your soul was back in place, you jumped up and ran to the door, flinging it open. “Amari! Seriously, it’s not like that!” you yelled after them as they made their way back to the living room, laughing.

“I don’t think my face can get any redder,” you muttered, hiding in your hands.

Sans patted your shoulder as he walked by you. “don’t worry, red looks good on you. it’s _cyan_ -tifically proven.”

“... I feel _violet_ -ed by your punning in this situation. You could say I’m… _Indigo_ -nant, since it **is** my favorite color.”

“indigo is your favorite color? that must just be a _pigment_ of your imagination since blue is obviously the best.”

You playfully swat at Sans and he effortlessly dodges. “C’mon, funny bones. Let’s go watch a movie.”

“isn’t it like 1am? that feels a bit late to start a movie,” Sans inquired as he followed you into the living room.

“W-well, that’s why we h-have this,” Alphys said as she rounded the corner, carrying blankets in her arms and gesturing to the poorly made (but cozy looking) fort out of blankets that Undyne and Amari were busy putting up. “We’re bound to fall asleep during the m-movie, so we made a place for everyone t-to crash!”

“So what are we watching?” Amari inquired.

“Princess Bride!” Undyne and Alphys said in unison. Your following gasp of excitement made everyone jump in slight surprise. You practically threw yourself into the fort and gazed at the T.V. in anticipation. 

Since Papyrus rarely slept, it was no surprise that he was still awake and was invited to join the rest of you. He ended up jogging over while in pajamas and Undyne mentioned something about him breaking a record.

After snacks were gathered, everyone piled into the fort. When you started to drift to sleep, you silently wondered what you did to get so lucky as to have friends as good as the ones surrounding you.

You had pleasant dreams that night.

~*~

It seemed that that was a luxury reserved for you.

You had fallen asleep cuddled up to Sans, so when he began to toss and turn, it quickly woke you. 

The Princess Bride menu screen was on repeat and on your side opposite Sans, Undyne, Alphys, Amari and even Papyrus were still asleep and you realized that this was the first time you’ve actually seen Papyrus sleeping. There was a pale light filling the room from the barely rising sun.

You studied Sans’ face closely and it seemed to be scrunched up. You weren’t sure if it was a look of anger or fear and only then did you realize that he was probably in the middle of a nightmare. You had never been around him while he was still asleep, but he had contacted you frequently after one to hang out and get his mind off of things.

Propping yourself up on your elbow, you leaned over him and began rubbing up and down his arm in a soothing motion.

“Sans?” you whispered. “Sans, wake up, bud. You’re okay.” 

He seemed to be getting more upset and you were at a bit of a loss as to what you should do. You grabbed his shoulder and began to lightly shake him. You leaned over him a bit more to get a better look at his face.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open. His left was glowing that familiar blue color and he shot up into a sitting position. Which _would_ have been fine had you not still been leaning over him. But since you were, in his motion, his forehead ended up colliding quite roughly with your nose. You both let out slight yelps of pain, you holding your nose and Sans rubbing his forehead.

“Ah, fuck,” you muttered as a small stream of blood began to trail from your nose. You cupped a free hand under your nose and turned to Sans. “Dude, are you okay?”

Sans was looking at your nose. His eyes were back to normal, wide open and staring at you in shock. “____,” he whispered. “are... are you okay? did i do that to you?”

“I asked first,” you retorted.

Sans quickly nodded, “y-yeah, i’m... i’m fine. but you…” he began to reach for you slowly and you could see that his hand was still shaking pretty badly.

“Dude, don’t sweat it. Humans get nosebleeds all the time. I’m fine, I just gotta go clean up. Come with me?”

He nodded slowly and crawled after you as the two of you made your way out of the blanket fort. Once in the bathroom, you began to delicately clean up your nose. It seemed fine as the bleeding had stopped almost as soon as it began. 

When you were done cleaning up, you turned to Sans. He had a slight sheen to him from sweat and he was still shaking ever so slightly as he stared at what must be a very interesting floor tile.

“See? Good as new!” you said as you gestured to your nose. You put a hand on his shoulder which caused him to slightly flinch. “Now, what about you? How are you /really/?”

Sans lifted his head slightly just to meet your eyes. After a second or so, he let out a weak sounding chuckle and began to scratch the back of his head. “i guess i should know better than to try to hide things from you.” You nodded sagely. “it was, uh… a pretty bad one,” he said as he shrugged.

“Well how are you doing right now?” you asked. He merely shrugged again. “You wanna go get your ass kicked at smash bros?” You felt accomplished as that got a chuckle out of him.

“i mean, you can /try/ to beat me, but i kinda doubt it,” he said as he winked at you.

“Oh you’re _so_ on,” you said as you raced past him to set up the game in your room. A couple of rounds in you decide to breach the silence.

“So… Do you want to talk about it?” There was no response from Sans and you wonder for a moment if he even heard you.

“it uh, was one of the usual. everyone i knew was dead or gone and whatever had caused it was coming for me too,” he was keeping his tone light and casual, a coping mechanism you knew he used when something was seriously bothering him.

You scooted closer to him until your arms were touching in a show of support, not taking your eyes off of the screen.

“I know it’s easier said than done, but just remind yourself that it’s just a dream and we’re all still here with you. This _here_ , you and I sitting together, this is real. I’ll be here as long as you’ll have me and even then you’ll have to chase me off to get me to leave you alone,” you say as you lightly elbow him, also keeping your tone light.

His character suddenly stops moving and you’re able to knock him off the stage, beating him. In the moment, you fist pump and start cheering.

“Yes! I finally beat you! In your fa-” you cut yourself off as you turn to him and see that he’s set down the controller. You’re about to ask what’s wrong when he pulls you into an almost-uncomfortably tight hug.

“thanks,” he mutters into your shoulder. You quickly hug him back.

“Of course, bud. What’re friends for?”

~

Your cheer from the other room woke her up. Undyne sat up in a rush, wondering if something was wrong before she realized that you and Sans were missing. She broke out in a huge grin and turned to shake Alphys and Amari up. 

She was about to wake up Papyrus when she realized that she rarely gets the chance to see him asleep. So, of course, she was gonna take full advantage of the situation. She quietly motioned for Alphys and Amari to get things to pose with Papyrus as he slept. 

Alphys, unaware that you and Sans weren’t in the room with them. She was making her way into your room when she realized that it was occupied. Luckily for her, you two hadn’t noticed her peeking in and snapping a picture in the middle of your hug, you halfway onto Sans’ lap. “ _My fanfiction is writing itself_!" she whispered to no one.

When she ran back into the living room, Undyne and Amari had found a sharpie and a body pillow. Amari was using their artistic skill to draw Mettaton’s face on the pillow and Undyne was using her… Vivid imagination to write very lewd speech bubbles coming from the drawn Metta-face. Some of the more PG speech bubbles were Mettaton quotes taken out of context, ‘Ohhh yes!’ ‘Pose for me, darling!’ ‘Just like that!’ and the rest were unrepeatable.

The trio snickered as they positioned the pillow in a compromising position with Papyrus before snapping as many pictures as they could.

“c’mon, you guys. this is just wrong,” Sans said as he entered the room. “though i’ll give you points for… creativity,” he muttered as his eyes fell on a particularly obscene speech bubble. Shrugging, he crouched to join them.

“I’m gonna make breakfast,” you called out. Undyne and Amari immediately abandoned what they were doing to help out.

Today was gonna be a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man i really need to write more fluff. i _need_ it. hey so remember to visit me over at [my tumblr](http://illgowithyoufic.tumblr.com) for updates, comments, and other info on the fic. it's one of the best ways to reach me so i hope to see you there!
> 
> also s/o to [Raven](http://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenZaphara/pseuds/RavenZaphara) we both had a Princess Bride reference in our newest chapters. on purpose or on accident? the world may never know  
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Snakedriver](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8401366) by [RavenZaphara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenZaphara/pseuds/RavenZaphara)




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